Cathay Pacific Sep passenger traffic falls on month as summer demand eases

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific passenger traffic fell 12.18% on the month, but rose 17.8% on the year, to 1.82 million passengers in September, the company said late Oct. 22, amid an easing summer travel demand.

Over January-September, the number of passengers reached 16.55 million, up 28.4% from the corresponding period a year ago.

The flagship carrier’s September revenue passenger kilometers rose 18.4% on the year while the carrier's capacity, measured in available seat kilometers, jumped 21.7% on the year. Passenger load factor fell 2.3 percentage points to 81.4%.

“Following the end of the busy peak summer months for leisure travel, September marked the shift to the outbound student travel peak,” said Cathay's Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau in a statement.

“Although September is typically a quieter month for leisure travel, demand picked up towards the end of the month coinciding with the National Day ‘Golden Week’ holiday period. We saw significant demand from Hong Kong to cities in Japan as well as Bangkok, and from the Chinese Mainland to destinations in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, and Europe around the holidays,” Lau added.

Coinciding with the seasonal downturn, the Platts-assessed FOB Singapore jet fuel/kerosene outright price averaged at $84.46/b in September, down from $91.48/b in August and $98.37/b in July, S&P Global Commodity Insights data showed.

On the cargo front, the airline carried 133,079 mt of cargo in September, up 7% on the month and 10.9% higher than last year, as the peak season began, Cathay said. Cargo revenue ton kilometers rose 4.9% on the year.

“For cargo, we expect demand to be robust during the traditional peak season, driven by e-commerce, high-tech and electronic goods from the Chinese Mainland, Southeast Asia and India, as well as perishables from South West Pacific and the Americas,” Lau said.

Optimism over outlook

Cathay expects improved travel demand towards the Christmas holiday.

“Looking ahead to the coming months, we will be adding more flights and destinations to cater for growing travel demand. We are seeing promising demand for Christmas and we expect bookings during this period to be higher than they were last year," said Lau.

Despite concerns about barrels from Saudi Arabia flowing into Asia, stable demand is expected to support the Asian jet fuel/kerosene complex, a trade source said.

"There is a possibility of jet fuel moving into Asia [from Saudi Arabia] with arbitrage economics to the West still closed," the source said. “Although there is more supply in the Straits, North Asian supply is lower. So it should stay supportive.”

The arbitrage lane to ship jet fuel/kerosene cargoes from the Persian Gulf to Northwest Europe was seen shut by $2.23/b, according to Commodity Insights calculations Oct. 22.

Platts assessed the front-month November-December time spread for FOB Singapore jet fuel/kerosene swaps at plus 36 cents/b at the Oct. 22 Asian close, compared with an average of minus 15 cents/b in September, Commodity Insights data showed.