Cathay Pacific and Dragonair today reported a drop in both the tonnage carried and capacity compared to the same month last year.

The two airlines carried 140,589 tonnes of cargo and mail in August, a drop of 3.1 percent.

For the year to date, the amount of freight carried has risen by 5.3 percent compared to a capacity increase of 4.6 percent.

Titus Diu, Cathay Pacific general manager cargo sales and marketing, said freighter capacity was significantly reduced as services were curtailed to offset the impact of high fuel prices.

He said demand during August was affected by the Olympics in Beijing, with a drop in exports out of China around the Games period.

"On the plus side, our second Boeing 747-400ERF is now in service and helping to improve efficiency on our important North American trunk routes," he said.

Capacity for the month, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, fell by 5.4 percent while the cargo and mail load factor rose by 0.6 percentage points to 65.9 percent.

The falling freight volume was also felt by Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals (Hactl) that recorded a 3.3 percent drop in throughput during August.

A total of 220,574 tonnes was handled in the month, while cumulative tonnage from January to August was 1,718,014 tonnes, up 3.8 percent against the same period last year.