June was another shocker for Cathay Pacific and Dragonair.

Its announcement of the traffic figures for last month shows it is currently down by about one fifth in total passenger numbers, and unable to lift yields as those who are flying down trade to economy in droves and pick up the bargains.

Cathay Pacific Airways today released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for June 2009 that show a sharp fall in passenger numbers compared to the same month last year, in part due to the impact of the Influenza A (H1N1) outbreak. There was also another marked year-on-year drop in the amount of cargo and mail carried.

In June, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 1,738,413 passengers – a drop of 18.1% against the same month in 2008 – while the load factor fell by 4.5 percentage points to 76.8%. Capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was down 9.1%. For the year to date, the number of passengers carried has fallen 4.2% while capacity has declined by 2.1%.

The two airlines between them carried a total of 123,860 tonnes of cargo and mail last month, down 10.0% on June 2008, while the cargo and mail load factor rose by 3.8 percentage points to 71.3%. Capacity for the month, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, was down on last year by 14.3%. For the year to date, tonnage has fallen by 15.4% compared to a capacity drop of 14.1%

Cathay Pacific General Manager Revenue Management Tom Owen said: “We usually see a pickup in demand in June as summer approaches, but this year demand was depressed by the ongoing global economic recession and the reluctance of passengers to fly as a result of the widely reported H1N1 outbreak. The H1N1 situation had a particularly severe impact in our largest market, Hong Kong, and within the region, especially on Japanese routes. Premium cabin demand showed no signs of life but was at least stable. Aggressive competition for Economy Class passengers in all markets continued to provide very few opportunities for sustainable yield improvement.”

Cathay Pacific General Manager Cargo Sales & Marketing Titus Diu said: “June cargo traffic was still down year on year, though the monthly drop was the lowest so far in 2009 and the tonnage decline was behind the cut in cargo capacity. There are signs that the airfreight market has bottomed out, though as yet we are not seeing any sustained upswing in demand. Competition in the various cargo markets we serve remain fierce and as such yield remains under considerable pressure.”

If this sounds bad, the tabulations reveal sharp differences regionally, with North American passengers numbers falling by more than one quarter compared to June 08, and North East Asia (South Korea and Japan) losing more than one third of its volume on the same basis.