HONG KONG's Cathay Pacific Airways cargo had a good month of December, said the airline's chief commercial officer Ronald Lam.
December tonnage was up month-to-month by about three per cent, with exports from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong holding up for longer than is normally expected at the end of the year, he said.
The overall buoyancy of the market ensured that load factors continued to grow, averaging 80.3 per cent in December - the highest monthly average in 2020.
'The imbalance in the market between demand and available capacity created an ongoing need for cargo-only passenger flights prior to Christmas, and overall in December we operated 713 pairs of these flights - only slightly fewer than in our peak month of November,' Mr Lam said.
'Network traffic feed from Northeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific was also encouraging with good movements of priority cargo and special products. We launched a seasonal cargo service into Hobart, Australia last month transporting high-quality fresh produce from Tasmania's capital city to various parts of Asia,' he said.
'We also launched a new scheduled freighter service between Hong Kong and Riyadh in January to meet the strong demand for shipments of ecommerce and other general cargo such as garments.
'We have also made all necessary preparations to ensure we are able to contribute to the vital mission of transporting Covid-19 vaccine shipments around the world with the development of our dedicated vaccine solution: cargoclan.cathaypacificcargo.com/vaccine-solution. This solution builds on our many years of experience in transporting pharmaceutical shipments, and we stand ready to assist with our extensive freighter network.
'Effective later within February 2021, the Hong Kong SAR Government will implement a new 14-day hotel quarantine plus 7-day medical surveillance requirement for both our Hong Kong-based pilots and cabin crew. The new measure will have a significant impact on our ability to service our passenger and cargo markets,' he said.
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December tonnage was up month-to-month by about three per cent, with exports from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong holding up for longer than is normally expected at the end of the year, he said.
The overall buoyancy of the market ensured that load factors continued to grow, averaging 80.3 per cent in December - the highest monthly average in 2020.
'The imbalance in the market between demand and available capacity created an ongoing need for cargo-only passenger flights prior to Christmas, and overall in December we operated 713 pairs of these flights - only slightly fewer than in our peak month of November,' Mr Lam said.
'Network traffic feed from Northeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific was also encouraging with good movements of priority cargo and special products. We launched a seasonal cargo service into Hobart, Australia last month transporting high-quality fresh produce from Tasmania's capital city to various parts of Asia,' he said.
'We also launched a new scheduled freighter service between Hong Kong and Riyadh in January to meet the strong demand for shipments of ecommerce and other general cargo such as garments.
'We have also made all necessary preparations to ensure we are able to contribute to the vital mission of transporting Covid-19 vaccine shipments around the world with the development of our dedicated vaccine solution: cargoclan.cathaypacificcargo.com/vaccine-solution. This solution builds on our many years of experience in transporting pharmaceutical shipments, and we stand ready to assist with our extensive freighter network.
'Effective later within February 2021, the Hong Kong SAR Government will implement a new 14-day hotel quarantine plus 7-day medical surveillance requirement for both our Hong Kong-based pilots and cabin crew. The new measure will have a significant impact on our ability to service our passenger and cargo markets,' he said.
SeaNews Turkey