Cathay Pacific sees first fall in passengers for 2008
Posted: 14 October 2008 1614 hrs

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HONG KONG : Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific said Tuesday its passenger numbers in September had dropped 0.7 percent year-on-year, as it saw its first fall in traffic this year amid the global financial crisis.

Cathay said in a statement the airline and its affiliate Dragonair carried a total of 1,878,080 passengers in September. The percentage of seats sold dropped 6.7 percentage points to 72.3 percent in September, compared to the same time last year.

"We saw a further softening of our passenger business during September," said Tom Owen, the airline's general manager in revenue management.

"Demand out of our biggest market, Hong Kong, slowed significantly, particularly on the corporate sales side, while typhoons in Hong Kong and Taiwan and the post-Olympics lag also impacted revenues."

The South China Morning Post reported Tuesday that the fall in passenger numbers was the first since 2003, when air travel was drastically reduced by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in the city. But an airline spokeswoman said she could not confirm when its last fall was.

Owen said the airline continued to see a softening in advance bookings, particularly for the premium cabins and other sales areas more exposed to the financial services sector.

The airline said in its newsletter last week that it had been "hit hard" by the global financial crisis, with a significant drop in the number of first and business class travellers.

- AFP /ls