Cathay Pacific Airways today released traffic figures for the month of January 2003 that reflected seasonal swings in business influenced by the early arrival of the Chinese New Year.
In January 2003, Cathay Pacific carried 1,084,481 passengers, 12.9 percent up on the same month a year ago yet down slightly from 1,104,455 passengers carried in December 2002.

At the same time, Cathay Pacific carried 68,226 tonnes of cargo, down from 74,008 tonnes in December but up 8.3 percent from January 2002.
Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management, Sales and Distribution Ian Shiu said: “With Christmas and the Chinese New Year so close together it is always difficult to say which period will attract the larger number of holiday travellers. As it turned out, both did pretty well. Our passenger load factor in January gained some ground over the same month last year even though First and Business Class loads remained depressed.”
Cathay Pacific Manager Cargo Sales & Distribution Philippe de Gentile Williams added: “This year there was a particularly short period between the end of Christmas and New Year and the Chinese New Year holiday, which started 31 January. That gave very little time for the pre-Chinese New Year peak to build, as it usually does, before the actual holiday was upon us and businesses took their long break.”

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