Cathay Pacific reported another month of cargo growth in October, driven by continued expansion in e-commerce volumes.

The Hong Kong-headquartered carrier transported 124,469 tonnes of cargo in the last month, marking a 13.7% increase compared with October 2022. 

This is also higher month-on-month than the 119,963 tonnes of cargo recorded in September and the 116,919 tonnes of cargo in August.

The month's cargo revenue tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased 10.6% year on year.

Meanwhile, the cargo load factor decreased by 8.3 percentage points to 60.7%, while available cargo tonne kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 25.7% year on year.

"Air cargo demand continued to strengthen across the network in October, in particular from Hong Kong onto the transpacific trade lanes, as we entered the year-end peak period," said Lavinia Lau, chief customer and commercial officer at Cathay Pacific.

"Our tonnage grew about 4% month on month and around 14% year on year, with e-commerce continuing to be a key driver ahead of year-end sales events such as 'Singles' Day' and 'Black Friday'," she added.

In the first 10 months of 2023, the tonnage increased by 19.4% against a 69.9% increase in AFTKs and a 47.6% increase in RFTKs, as compared with the same period for 2022.

Looking ahead, the Cathay executive said cargo tonnage is expected to grow further moving towards the end of the year, with two freight verticals — perishables and e-commerce — leading the growth.

"We anticipate growing demand for fresh produce from our key markets of the Southwest Pacific, the Americas and Japan into Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland as we enter the main perishables season, while demand for e-commerce shipments is expected to remain strong through to the yearend," Lau said.

Cathay Pacific to mark first profit since 2019

The Cathay chief customer and commercial officer also noted that the airline will see a return to profitability by the end of 2023 — after years of losses due to the global havoc brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The strong performance in the first half from the airline and subsidiaries has continued. The results from associates, recognised three months in arrears, are also expected to be profitable in the second half of 2023, but loss-making across the full year," Lau said.

“With respect to the consolidated Group result, we expect that the second-half profit in 2023 will surpass the result from the first half and that the Group will achieve a consolidated profit for the year overall, which will be our first profitable year since 2019," she added.