Cathay Pacific cargo revival hinges on festive U.S. buyers
September 30, 2014 Category Airlines and airports, Logistics
Cathay Pacific, one of the world’s largest cargo carriers, is hoping the Christmas season will start a little earlier this year. The last quarter, traditionally a peak season for cargo, may signal the start of a real recovery for the sluggish global cargo market thanks to new hi-tech consumer product launches and recovery in the U.S. economy, said Cathay’s Cargo Director James Woodrow. Speaking to the South China Morning Post in Zhengzhou, he said there was a good chance Apple’s iPhone 6 will help improve not only the China market but also the Hong Kong market. Mainland China is Cathay’s largest cargo market after Hong Kong, while “almost everything” it ships from Hong Kong comes from the Pearl River Delta, Woodrow said. But to Cathay the U.S. market is still more important than China. “I think critical to global cargo growth is growth in the U.S. economy. The more the U.S. and global economy accelerates, the faster our load factor will grow,” Woodrow said. Tonnage at Cathay Pacific and Dragonair increased 8.5% to 804,000 tons in the first half of the year, but there was a 6.9% decline in yield – per unit profitability. Airlines have had cargo yields eroded by overcapacity and weak demand, while the growth of belly space in passenger jets adds further cargo capacity.
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