13 July 2009

Swine flu fears hit Cathay loads


Cathay Pacific and partner Dragonair saw passenger carryings fall sharply last month, partially blamed on swine flu.

The two airlines saw passenger numbers drop by more than 18% to 1.7 million in June over the same month last year while the load factor fell by 4.5 percentage points to 76.8%.
 
For the year to date, the number of passengers carried has fallen 4.2% while capacity has declined by 2.1%.

Cathay’s general manager revenue management Tom Owen said: "We usually see a pickup in demand in June as summer approaches, but this year demand was depressed by the ongoing global economic recession and the reluctance of passengers to fly as a result of the widely reported H1N1 outbreak.
 
"The H1N1 situation had a particularly severe impact in our largest market, Hong Kong, and within the region, especially on Japanese routes.
 
"Premium cabin demand showed no signs of life but was at least stable.
 
"Aggressive competition for economy class passengers in all markets continued to provide very few opportunities for sustainable yield improvement."

by Phil Davies


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