Cathay Pacific Airways aims to replicate its business-class strategy in a cargo trade upgrade. It wants to fly more diamonds and medicines rather than T-shirts. Nick Rhodes, the airline’s Cargo Director, said: “Similar to the passenger service, we are not a low-cost carrier. We try to be a full-service cargo carrier. That’s really our DNA.” The airline, the world’s biggest international air-cargo carrier, started operating its first independently-owned goods terminal in Hong Kong this month, increasing the airport’s capacity by half. The airline has spent HKD5.9 billion on a facility it says will help Cathay target an increase of up to 20% in more profitable shipments of high-value goods, perishables and vaccines. Success with that strategy is critical to boosting profit in a business that accounts for over a fifth of the airline’s revenue. Both Singapore and Korean Air Lines also want to move to higher-value goods even as the global air-freight market declined for a second straight year in 2012, amid a slump in demand across Europe. Cathay, which moves cargo with 22 dedicated aircraft and in the bellies of passenger aircraft, carried 1.56 million tons of cargo and mail last year, 5.3% less than a year earlier. Revenue, measured by weight multiplied by kilometers, also fell 7.3% to CNY8.94 million.