KARA CHI Cathay Pacific Airways has released combined Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for October 2011 that show a rise in passenger numbers well below the increase in capacity. Cargo and mail tonnage once again showed a year-on-year decline, says a press release. Cathay Pacific and Dragonair carried a total of 2,381,008 passengers last month - up 3.8% on the same month last year - while the passenger load factor fell by 3.1 percentage points to 80.1%. Capacity for the month, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), was up by 10.3%. For the year to date, the number of passengers carried increased by 2.3% compared to a capacity hike of 9.3pc. The two airlines carried 135,998 tonnes of cargo and mail in October, a year-on-year drop of 17.5%. The cargo and mail load factor was down by 8.9 percentage points to 66.2%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres, fell by 4.7%, while cargo and mail tonne kilometres flown were down by 15.9%. For the year to date, tonnage has dropped by 7.7% while capacity is up by 8.1%.