Cathay Pacific noted a pick-up in cargo demand in September and the airline is predicting a robust peak season.
The Hong Kong-based carrier said that cargo tonnage in September increased by 7% compared with August and was up 11% compared with last year to 133,079 tonnes.
The month-on-month increase comes as the industry "moved into the traditional peak season", the airline said.
"In terms of cargo carried, we observed an uptick in our Cathay Fresh shipments from South West Pacific, Southeast Asia and North America into Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland, driven by increased demand during the Mid-Autumn Festival," said chief customer and commercial officer Lavinia Lau.
"There was also an increase in shipments through our Cathay Priority solution due to growing demand for time-sensitive shipments to the Americas and Europe. From the Greater Bay Area, e-commerce shipments continued to be the key driver of our export tonnage."
Lau added that e-commerce and electronics were likely to drive a "robust" end to the year.
“For cargo, we expect demand to be robust during the traditional peak season, driven by e-commerce, high-tech and electronic goods from the Chinese Mainland, Southeast Asia and India, as well as perishables from South West Pacific and the Americas," she said.
While tonnages were up by a double-digit percentage compared with last year, cargo demand in cargo tonne km (CTK) terms was up by the lower amount of 4.9%.
And with capacity in available cargo tonne km terms up 9.3%, the cargo load factor declined by 2.4 percentage points compared with last year to 58.7%.
For the year to date, cargo demand at Cathay in CTK terms is up 3.4% year on year and in tonnage terms is ahead 9.9%.
Airport boost
Meanwhile, cargo volumes at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) also increased in September. The world's busiest cargo airport reported a 10.2% year-on-year increase in cargo volumes to 414,000 tonnes.
"This was mainly attributed to 13.0% growth in both transshipments and exports," the airport authority said in a press release.
"Among key trading regions, cargo traffic to and from Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East increased most significantly in September 2024."
On a 12-month rolling basis, cargo demand throughput grew by 15.9% to 4.8m tonnes.
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