Cathay Pacific cargo volumes down 32% in 1H2020, but revenues increase 9%

Cathay Pacific chairman Patrick Healy reported (12-Aug-2020) cargo revenue increased 8.8% year-on-year to HKD11,177 million (USD1.44 billion) in 1H2020 due to a market imbalance between capacity and demand. AFTKs decreased 31%, reflecting a considerable loss of capacity due to cuts to Cathay's passenger schedule. Cargo volumes decreased 31.9% to 667,000 tonnes. Load factor increased 5.9pp to 69.3% and cargo yield increased 44.1% to HKD2.71 (USD0.35). Mr Healy said the airline introduced additional cargo capacity "wherever possible" and increased the utilisation of freighter aircraft. The carrier operated 2228 pairs of cargo only services with passenger aircraft between Mar-2020 and Jun-2020 and commenced transporting cargo in the passenger cabins of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft in late Apr-2020. Cathay also chartered services from its subsidiary Air Hong Kong. [more - original PR]