Cathay Pacific Airways' new chief executive, Tony Tyler, is concerned about the downturn in air cargo demand and intensifying competition in the passenger market, and has set a review of the airline's strategy as his top priority.

Tyler said that despite very strong growth in passenger revenue this year, weak cargo demand remains a drag on the Hong Kong-based carrier.

"I am worried about the cargo downturn, for sure," Tyler said. "In a good year cargo has accounted for 30 percent of our revenue. This year it will be less than that because demand is down."

Tyler had been Cathay Pacific's chief operating officer since 2005 until he took over as chief executive earlier this month. He succeeded Philip Chen, who held the top post for just over two years and has taken a new position at the airline's parent company, Swire Group, as chairman of its China investment business.

In the first half, Cathay Pacific's cargo tonnage fell 0.4 percent from a year earlier to 757,575 metric tonnes, despite a 3.3 percent increase in cargo capacity.

Its cargo and mail load factor, or the portion of cargo space filled on each flight, fell 3.1 percentage points from a year earlier to 65.3 percent between January and June.

The airline carried 10.96 million passengers in the same period, up 1.3 percent from the same period last year, while passenger capacity rose 1.6 percent.

Cathay Pacific said earlier that shippers have been switching to marine transportation from air transportation because fuel costs have risen again in recent months, contributing to a downturn in global air cargo demand.

Tyler said the airline is considering whether to phase out its older Boeing 747 cargo jets, which consume more fuel and are more expensive to operate, to cut costs.

In the air passenger market, Tyler said the airline not only has to meet increasing competition from new local airlines, it is also being threatened by the rise of cash-rich Middle East carriers.

"We've also got enormous competition coming to us from the Middle East carriers who are investing massively without the financial constraints of normal commercially run companies," he said.

Emirates Airline and Qatar Airways are among the fastest-growing Middle Eastern airlines that are competing against Cathay Pacific.

Tyler said a top priority in his new job would be to review Cathay Pacific's strategy.

"The priority is to clarify what we are doing, and what goals we are trying to reach."

In terms of expanding its network, Tyler said the airline would increase frequencies to key long-haul destinations including Melbourne, Vancouver and New York.

"There's not a lot of places that you can fly to profitably from Hong Kong that we don't cover already so the main strategy is to build up and thicken up the hub and the network."