Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd , Hong Kong's dominant airline, has sufficient freight capacity despite a delay in the delivery of new 747-8F freighters from Boeing Co , its chief executive said.

"We're obviously disappointed that the delivery of the Boeing 747-8 Freighters has been delayed," Tony Tyler, chief executive of Cathay, said on the sidelines of a media event. "But when we look at the cargo capacity plan for next year, we are confident that we can provide the necessary capacity to serve the market well."

Cathay had planned to begin taking delivery of 10 Boeing 747-8Fs from January 2011, but Boeing has postponed delivery to mid-year because of a low-frequency vibration in certain flight conditions.

Hong Kong is expected to see another record year for air cargo throughput in 2010, maintaining its position as the world's busiest international air freight market, said C.K. Ng, deputy director, airport operations of Hong Kong's Airport Authority.

Boosted by a strong recovery in passengers and cargo, Cathay, Asia's No.4 carrier by market value, is expected to see net profit double to a record HK$9.7 billion this year, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Despite the rebound, Cathay's premium revenue had not reached levels from before the global downturn, but had seen steady improvement over last year, Tyler said.

"We are seeing a good pick up this year in our premium traffic and that's obviously good for us and for Hong Kong," Tyler said. "We are heading into the busy time for premium passengers this season."

Cathay and subsidiary Dragonair saw their combined passenger volume rise 10 percent to 17.9 million in the first eight months of the year on robust demand out of Hong Kong and solid demand in China. But premium revenue and volumes remain below pre-downturn levels.

Cargo tonnage rose 22 percent during the eight months, although August cargo traffic was not as strong as the previous month in terms of volume. (Reuters)