Cathay retires another 747-400F

Cathay Pacific Airways retired a 747-400F (30804).

This leaves the carrier with a 21-unit freighter fleet, comprised of thirteen 747‑8Fs, six 747-400ERFs, and two 747-400Fs. Cathay, which intends to retire its two remaining 747-400Fs, has one more 747-8F on firm order with Boeing.

In other Cathay news, the carrier reported May cargo traffic up 17.5% y-o-y to 797 million RTKs. After a flat year-over-year performance in January and February, Cathay reported jumps of 19.3% and 17.0% in March and April, and the carrier’s cargo traffic for the first five months of 2014 was up 11.3% to 3.80 billion RTKs. Commenting on the May traffic report, Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Mark Sutch said: “We saw an upswing in demand out of the key Hong Kong and Mainland China markets in May, though the rumours of major product launches failed to materialise. Demand on the transpacific lanes remained robust, boosted by the beginning of the fruit season out of the US. However, the momentum in Europe continued to be weak and we trimmed back our freighter schedule to the continent accordingly. Intra-Asia demand was generally in line with expectations, though exports out of Dhaka continued to be affected by the unrest in Bangladesh.”