Cathay Pacific, the biggest airline in Kong Kong, announced Wednesday that both its number of flights and capacity reached a new high in 2004 with a record of 13,664,000 passengers and 972,416 tons of cargo.

The airline reported its second best full-year results on record with an attributable profit of HK$4,417 million (about US$566 million) in 2004, compared to 1,303 million HK dollars in 2003. Turnover increased by 32.1 percent from last year to a record 39,065 million HK dollars.

The airline said, improved world and Hong Kong economies were the main drivers for growth. The year 2004 would have been the airline's best year on record had there not been a sharp rise in the price of fuel. Fuel accounted for 23.9 percent of the airline's total operating cost, up from 19.8 percent in 2003.

The airline extended its Chinese Mainland network with the introduction of a daily service to Beijing and in early 2005 the launch of new passenger service to Xiamen and freighter service to Shanghai.

Demand from both business and leisure travelers remained strong throughout the year. Passenger capacity increased by 24.9 percent over 2003.

This increase, combined with higher load factors and yields, which rose 5.8 percent, contributed to a passenger revenue record of 26,407 million HK dollars.

Cathay Pacific Chairman David Turnbull said, "Persistently high fuel prices along with greater regional and long haul competition will place further pressure on us to improve productivity and reduce unit costs.

The aviation business often sees sharp ups and downs, yet we remain focused on maintaining profitable growth and are optimistic over our future. We are expanding our network and fleet and will continue to deliver superior service and value to our customers."

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2005)