The Cathay Pacific Group made an attributable profit of HK$6 billion (US$770 million) in 2015, a year-on-year increase of 90.5 percent, according to the company’s annual results.

Although the group’s cargo profits benefited from low fuel prices, it said that revenue from cargo operations fell 9 percent because of lower fuel surcharges.

While Cathay Pacific and Dragonair increased their overall cargo capacity by 5.4 percent, the load factor dropped to 64.2 percent, 0.1 percentage points lower than 2014. The two airlines carried a total of 1.8 million tonnes in 2015, a year-on-year increase of 4.4 percent, but yield was down 13.2 percent because of lower fuel surcharges, strong competition, overcapacity and unfavourable currency fluctuations, according to the group.

The airline also noted that about 57 percent of its cargo shipments were carried in the bellies of its passenger fleet.

While revenue from exports from Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing and Zhengzhou was affected by the depreciation of the Chinese currency, Cathay said that it had performed well in Vietnamese and Bangladeshi exports, project cargo to India, and meat and dairy from the Southwest Pacific to Asia and the Middle East.

According to the results, Cathay’s own cargo terminal at Hong Kong International Airport recorded a 13-percent growth in its throughput in 2015, handling 1.7 million tonnes.

Cargo demand in 2016 will continue to be adversely affected by industry overcapacity, according to John Slosar, chairman of Cathay Pacific.