Cathay Pacific said it carried less cargo year-on-year in May, although volumes improved month on month as the easing of crew quarantine measures in Hong Kong continued to push recovery in its capacity.

The Hong Kong-based airline carried 92,394 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, a decrease of 6.4% compared to May 2020. But it was up 26% from the 73,113 tonnes that it transported in April. 

For May, Cathay Pacific said revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTKs) fell 16.9% year-on-year. The cargo and mail load factor increased by 7.5 percentage points to 81%, while capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs), was also down by 24.5%.

The carrier noted that in the first five months of 2021, the tonnage fell by 23.2% against a 37.3% drop in capacity and a 25.5% decrease in RFTKs, as compared to the same period for 2020.

Boost from easing of crew quarantine rules

"The relaxation of crew quarantine requirements in mid-April enabled us to gradually reinstate cargo capacity throughout May, although we are yet to return to our full freighter schedule due to crew rostering lead time," said Cathay Pacific Group Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam.

"Last month, we operated 24% more freighter flights and 18% more cargo-only passenger flights than we did in April, providing more lift to meet demand from a reasonably buoyant air cargo market," he added, noting that among all sales areas, Taiwan stood out last month with "considerable export demand."

"We also experienced strong inbound and outbound demand on services to Asia, the Americas and Europe, which enabled our sales teams to maintain high load factors on these routes. Overall, our cargo load factor in May was 81%," Lam said.

Looking ahead, Cathay Pacific expects cargo performance to improve as it resumes more freight services.

"Overall cargo demand remains firm. Passenger belly capacity will remain constrained, but with quarantine restrictions easing due to the high uptake of vaccinations by our freighter crews, we will see a further resumption of our freighter frequencies from Hong Kong to various regions in our network," the Cathay executive said.

30% pre-Covid capacity by Q4 2021

He went on to say that the first half of 2021 has seen the tightening of travel restrictions and quarantine requirements as Hong Kong and our major markets continued the fight against Covid-19 — which resulted in increased quarantine for aircrew thus reducing the carrier's effective freighter capacity.

"However, with the cost-saving measures implemented in 2020 (which are continuing) and a strong underlying cargo performance, our losses in the first half of 2021, while still very substantial, are expected to be somewhat lower than the losses reported in both the first and second halves of 2020," Lam said.

Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific is looking to operate approximately 30% of its pre-Covid-19 passengers capacity by the fourth quarter of 2021 with the easing of passenger and crew quarantine measures, the roll-out of the community vaccination programme in Hong Kong and the high vaccination rate of our aircrew.