Cathay Pacific Airways said on Monday its passenger numbers increased 7 percent in January from a year ago, but cargo performance was weaker than expected.

"The passenger business usually hits a lull between major holidays, but not this month. January's figures showed strong loads to and through Hong Kong," said Ian Shiu, Cathay's general manager for revenue management, sales and distribution, in a statement.

The airline carried 1.207 million passengers in January, down from December's Christmas peak of 1.273 million. The average passenger load factor was 79.6 percent, up 40 basis points from a year ago.

"The most popular destinations over the Chinese New Year were in North Asia, a delayed reaction, perhaps, from the Indian Ocean tsunami, which really did not affect our figures from January," he added.

But the airline carried less cargo than expected because of keen competition among operators, and the traditional pre-Chinese New Year surge was not as strong as anticipated.

Cathay carried 74,929 tonnes of cargo in January, down from 83,148 tonnes in December.