"We are taking, for instance, high tech Apples to North America and bringing back loads of cherries," Chief Executive Tony Tyler told Reuters Insider TV in an interview on the sidelines of the International Air Transportation Association's (IATA) annual.
IATA published stunning new estimates for 2010 industry growth, saying it now expects the world's airlines to post a $2.5 billion profit. Three months ago, it had said it expected the industry to lose $2.8 billion over the year.
The global airline industry had its worst year ever in 2009, when demand dropped faster than capacity could be cut as both companies and consumers shrank travel budgets to weather the global economic crisis.
Asia-Pacific will be leading the charge this year, with a $2.2 billion profit, as the Asian economy excluding Japan expands nearly twice as fast as global gross domestic product (GDP), IATA said on Monday.
Cathay Pacific is one of the companies benefitting from a pickup in global trade as it generates about a third of its revenues with cargo services.
IATA hiked its estimate for 2010 cargo volume growth to 18.5 percent from 12.0 percent after a rebound in the first three months of this year.
Tyler also said he was confident that a planned cargo joint venture with Air China would receive regulatory approval by the end of this summer season.
Chinese media said on May 25 that Beijing was pushing the country's three major airlines -- Air China, China Eastern and China Southern -- to merge their cargo operations to claw back business in a market dominated by foreign carriers.
A source familiar with the cargo talks had said that the plan could put at risk a possible joint venture of Cathay Pacific and Air China.
"We're confident that our joint venture will go ahead," Tyler told Reuters in the interview. (Reuters)
