The Christmas holiday helped Cathay Pacific and its low-cost carrier, Dragonair, carry 7.9 percent more passengers in December last year compared to the same period 2010.

Hong Kong’s flag carrier carried 2.5 million passengers during the last month of 2011 with traffic to and from North America receiving the highest push with a 21.1 percent increase over the same period. 

Passengers travelling to and from China with the carrier also increased by 18.2 percent while the tough economic situation saw European travellers drop 2.2 percent.

“December was a relatively strong month in terms of the number of people flying, with passenger growth almost keeping pace with capacity growth,” Cathay Pacific general manager revenue management James Tong said.

“Demand was strong over the Christmas peak and premium traffic held up well.

“The biggest area of concern was the continuing pressure on yield in the Economy cabin, particularly on long-haul routes.

“We’ll be seeing high loads again over the upcoming Chinese New Year peak but yield will remain an area of concern.”

While the carrier’s passenger count managed to stay in the black, its passenger load factor fell 0.5 points to 79.6 percent.

 Cargo and mail carried also decreased for the month by 11.9 percent compared to the same month 2010 to 142,122.