Hong Kong carriers report strong February gains

Cathay Pacific and sister carrier Dragonair reaped the Chinese New Year dividend with a 14 per cent rise in passenger volume, keeping the group in the black for the first two months of the year.

A little more than two million passengers flew on the carriers, pushing passenger load for the month up by 7.5 per cent against a negligible increase in capacity.

Sharp gains were reported on all routes especially as traffic volumes for February last year were mauled by the deepening economic slump.

China delivered the largest improvements in traffic volume, both year-on-year and for the year-to-date, rising 32.2 per cent over February 2009 and 17.5 per cent respectively. North-east and South-east Asia came next with a 19.1 per cent and a 14.5 per cent gain respectively.

While Cathay attributed the gains to Chinese New Year falling a month later in February, it also noted ?a general pick-up in the quality of demand since the lows of last year?s economic crisis has continued?.

Sourced = The TTG TravelHub