Cathay Cargo expecting demand to pick up, watching volatility
Tonnage was up 11.8% in Feb, capacity increased by 3.5% and revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased 1%.
Cathay Cargo carried 119,707 tonnes cargo in February 2025, an increase of 11.8 percent compared to February 2024.
"Available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs) increased by 3.5 percent, revenue freight tonne kilometres (RFTKs) increased one percent and load factor decreased by 1.4 percentage points year on year," says an official release.
In the first two months of 2025, total tonnage increased by 12.8 percent to 250,278 tonnes compared with the same period for 2024.
Lavinia Lau, Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, Cathay Pacific says: "Demand from our Hong Kong hub and the wider Greater Bay Area market started slowly due to the Lunar New Year holiday but picked up towards the end of February. We observed continued growth in our Cathay Secure solution, driven by increased shipments of electronics from the Chinese Mainland and Southeast Asia. We were also proud to be the official airline sponsor of the Longines Hong Kong International Horse Show, transporting around 70 of the world’s finest sports horses from Liège and London to Hong Kong, showcasing our expertise and care in transporting live animals.
"For March, we expect market demand to pick up as we ramp up our scheduled freighter frequencies to prepare for the quarter end. We are also keeping a close watch on the volatility of the cargo market, and will leverage our built-in flexibility to adjust our network and capacity to capture demand changes."
Cathay Pacific will be launching flights to Hyderabad at the end of March, and also recently announced a new non-stop service to Urumqi starting from April 28, 2025. HK Express has also recently announced flights to Komatsu from April 24, Cheongju from June 5, Daegu from June 6 and Miyako (Shimojishima) from June 27. In total, 13 new destinations have already been announced for 2025 with more to come, the release added.
