Asia-Pacific air carriers had an encouraging showing in April with cargo volumes yielding decent growth, according to the latest statistics released by airline associations.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia-based Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) said the region’s carriers logged an increase of 4.7 percent in April year-over-year on the back of sustained demand for Asian exports.
But freight load factors remained under pressure due to capacity expansion. With offered freight capacity expanding by 5.3 percent, the international freight load factor averaged 64.3 percent in April, 0.4 percentage points lower than the same month last year.
In the first four months of the year, AAPA monitored air cargo demand for the region’s carriers expanding by 4.2 percent compared to the same period in 2013, thanks to an improvement in global trade conditions, said Andrew Herdman, its director general.
For Geneva-based International Air Transport Association (IATA), it placed Asia-Pacific carriers’ cargo demand growth last month at 5.2 percent year-over-year.
Both organizations, however, warned it would not be an easy flight in the months ahead. “The overall demand environment looks positive, underpinned by positive growth in the global economy. However, the region’s carriers continue to face intense competition in the marketplace with signs of overcapacity and the resulting yield pressures,” said AAPA.
“Ongoing weakness in Chinese manufacturing activity is likely to impact on airfreight demand in coming months, and export volumes in emerging Asian markets have been in continuous decline throughout 2014,” noted IATA.
Singapore Changi Airport, meanwhile, reported processing 151,100 tonnes of airfreight in April, a minimal 0.6 percent increase year-on-year.
Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) also reported tonnage growth in April, handling 362,000 tonnes of cargo representing a year-on-year increase of 6 percent.
The growth was driven mainly by transshipments, which were up 18 percent from a year ago. During the month, cargo throughput to and from mainland China improved most significantly compared to other regions.
For the first four months of 2014, HKIA handled 1.4 million tonnes of cargo, registering year-on-year growth of 5.6 percent. On a rolling 12-month basis, cargo tonnage increased 3.6 percent to 4.2 million tonnes over the same period last year.
