Hong Kong protests exacerbate continued declines in Cathay’s August traffic 

Today, Cathay Pacific reported overall August cargo traffic down 11.6% year-over-year (y-o-y) to 925,487 freight-tonne kilometers (FTKs), signaling the impact of recent airport disruptions at the carrier’s Hong Kong hub and headwinds related to the trade war that already were driving down traffic for the carrier.  

August cargo and mail tonnage at Cathay fell 14% y-o-y to 161,394 tonnes. Meanwhile, the cargo and mail load factor fell by 7.5 percentage points to 60.9%. Year-to-date, Cathay’s total cargo activity was down 7.2% to about 7.3 million FTKs. The carrier attributed the fall in traffic and volumes to the “challenging” month for both Cathay and Hong Kong. 

“Tonnage further deteriorated month-on-month across all regions, driven in particular by slow demand over the holiday season in different parts of the world, the effects of tropical storms and disruptions at Hong Kong International Airport (HKG),” said Ronald Lam, chief customer and commercial officer at Cathay Pacific Group. “Ongoing geopolitical tensions continued to affect overall market sentiment.” 

Despite the difficult environment, Cathay anticipates September to be “slightly more positive” with an improvement in demand, driven by shipments and restocking of inventory as the industry enters its traditional season of high demand.