Growth in demand for premium travel helped offset falling economy load factors at Cathay Pacific last month.
The Hong Kong-based group – which includes Cathay Pacific and Dragonair – saw overall passenger carryings rise by 2.4% to 2.27 million in June over the same month last year. Capacity was up by 9.4% in June.
The number of passengers carried in the first six months of the year was up 1.7%, the passenger load factor was down by 4.7 percentage points to 79.3%, while capacity rose by 9.8%.
General manager revenue management Tom Owen said: “Passenger numbers in June showed an increase compared to the same month last year, though load factors in economy class fell due to the growth in capacity.
“Some routes – including Japan, Shanghai and the Middle East – continued to show weakness, though loads on key long-haul routes and within Southeast Asia remained high.
“Demand in our premium cabins continued to show growth over last year, helping to boost yield and revenue efficiency.”