Changi Airport Singapore announced the start of a new ANA Cargo freighter service with welcoming ceremonies for the inaugural flight of the Japanese carrier from Okinawa, Japan, on May 14.
The new intra-Asia cargo link will operate six weekly Okinawa-Singapore-Tokyo Narita services utilizing the Boeing 767-300F aircraft to increase transshipment cargo loads to Southeast Asia and South Asia, said Changi Airport operator Changi Airport Group (CAG).
The airline also recently relocated its Asia cargo office, which serves its networks across Southeast Asia and South Asia, from Hong Kong to Singapore. In 2013, cargo carried by ANA Cargo to and from Singapore grew 53 percent year-on-year.
“We are delighted to welcome ANA Cargo’s new freighter service to Singapore,” said James Fong, CAG’s assistant vice president for cargo and logistics development. “While the outlook for the global airfreight sector remains flat, this is an example of CAG’s commitment in partnering our airline partners to explore new opportunities and stimulate growth in niche cargo segments as well as overall traffic to emerging economies in the region.”
In the first quarter of 2014, cargo shipments at Changi Airport stood stable at 446,900 tonnes compared to the same period a year ago.
For Hong Kong carriers Cathay Pacific and Dragonair, traffic figures for April 2014 showed a double-digit increase in cargo and mail tonnage over the same month last year.
The two airlines carried 137,444 tonnes of cargo and mail in April, an increase of 11 percent compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 2.3 percentage points to 63.1 percent.
Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometers, rose by 12.8 percent while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometers (RTKs) flown were up by 17 percent, mainly as a result of more trans-Pacific flying and the impact of operating larger Boeing 747-8F freighters.
For the year to end-April, tonnage rose by 5.7 percent while capacity was up by 10.1 percent and RTKs increased by 9.7 percent.
“We saw an increase in demand across our freighter network in March and some of that momentum carried through into April,” said Mark Sutch, Cathay Pacific general manager of cargo sales and marketing. “Traffic was also boosted by a pre-Easter rush.”
Nonetheless, he said that while more long-haul flying and the use of bigger aircraft led to an increase in RTKs, yield continued to be on a downward trend. “The general weakness of the world’s airfreight markets coupled with over-capacity in the industry is putting enormous pressure on rates.”
Cathay Pacific group chief executive Ivan Chu also noted disappointing business by the cargo segment from January to April. “Our revenue performance over the first four months of 2014 has been below expectations. The cargo business, despite a temporary improvement in March, has continued to be weak.”
