Cargo continues to keep Cathay Pacific above water

Cargo continues to be a relative bright spot for embattled Cathay Pacific. The airline flew 97,166 tonnes of cargo in March, which is up nearly 17% on the March 2021 numbers but almost half the tonnage flown in March 2019. Cathay Pacific continues to face a lot of operating constraints but confirms it is continually looking to increase its cargo flight capacity where possible.

Ongoing operational issues constrain Cathay Pacific's cargo flights

Cathay Pacific has a dedicated freighter fleet of Boeing 747-400F and 747-8F plus half a dozen Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft they've converted into preighters. But toughened quarantine requirements in Hong Kong for Cathay Pacific cargo pilots, the Ukraine War, and now the Shanghai lockdowns are playing havoc with Cathay's cargo schedules and the tonnage amounts it can uplift.

"Regarding cargo, we will be operating a similar level of capacity in April as in March due to ongoing operational constraints,"

says Cathay Pacific's Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Ronald Lam.

"Overall, our cargo flight capacity has recovered over 40% compared to the lowest point in January, although it remains just 29% of pre-COVID-19 levels."

Cargo flights continue into Hong Kong Airport

Cathay Pacific cargo loads in March averaged 81.5%. Hong Kong International Airport loaded 261,000 tonnes of cargo in March and unloaded 136,000 tonnes for a total of 397,000 tonnes, with Cathay Pacific handling less than a quarter of that total. Despite the difficulties of flying in and out of Hong Kong, aviation news Simple Flying has reported extensively on, the airport recorded 6,327 cargo aircraft movements in March, nearly 60% of all aircraft movements at the airport that month.

For the first three months of this year, cargo throughput and flight movements at Hong Kong International Airport dropped by 9.2% and 1.0% respectively. But Hong Kong's status as a global aviation hub was maintained in 2021 - at least from a cargo perspective. Despite volumes remaining way down on pre-pandemic levels, HKIA was ranked the world’s busiest cargo airport in 2021 by Airports Council International, handling five million tonnes of cargo over the year.

"Our capacity on long-haul routes remained constrained by ongoing aircrew quarantine requirements; however, we were very pleased to have brought Atlanta, Houston, and Miami back online. With reduced long-haul operations, we have used the available aircraft and crew to add capacity to our regional lanes, in particular, Northeast Asia and South Asia, where demand has been relatively robust,"

said Mr Lam last week.

Cargo continues to save the day at Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific reports March's cargo revenue tonne kilometers (RFTKs) was down 28.4% year-on-year and down 65.6% compared to March 2019. March's cargo load factor decreased by 4.9 percentage points to 81.5%, while capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometers (AFTKs), was down by 24.1% year-on-year, and was down by 71.1% compared to March 2019.

In the first three months of 2022, the tonnage decreased by 13.8% against a 49.2% drop in capacity and a 50.3% decrease in RFTKs, as compared to the same period for 2021.

"On the demand side, tonnage contribution from Hong Kong reduced in March, as cross-border trucking capacity remained constrained, and production in the southern part of the Chinese Mainland was affected due to ongoing anti-pandemic measures,"

Mr Lam said.

You might think these figures aren't impressive, and on one level they are not. But the pandemic, Beijing, and the Hong Kong SAR Government have thrown the proverbial kitchen sink at Cathay Pacific, and it's a minor miracle the airline is still flying. Compared to Cathay's passenger numbers, their cargo operations are a shining bright spot, generating some much-needed revenue for the airline and keeping some planes (and their crews) in the air.

"On the positive side, demand from Hong Kong should slowly recover as cross-border trucking bottlenecks ease, while the feed from other parts of our network remains healthy,"

"As Hong Kong’s home carrier, we remain resolutely committed to keeping the flow of people and cargo between Hong Kong and the rest of the world safely moving, despite the difficult circumstances presented by COVID-19."

added Mr Lam.