Cathay Pacific sees promising trend in premium bookings

Cathay Pacific, in its internal employee magazine CX World, stated load factors in economy-class remain strong, averaging 84.8% through summer for Cathay Pacific and Dragonair, but "volumes and revenues for premium traffic remained stubbornly below pre-downturn levels" (CX World, 05-Oct-2010). First-class demand remains softer than business demand. Cathay Pacific is now "gearing up for whether its passenger business has made a full recovery from the global economic slump" and is waiting to see how premium bookings recover in the traditional peak travel period. Premium bookings are expected to show some recovery for the October business travel peak, with Sep-2010 and Oct-2010 bookings showing a "promising trend". Premium travel on short-haul services has suffered a significant shortfall in comparison to economy bookings by businesses, and the segment is expected to remain under pressure, due to tightened corporate travel policies.