Air freight makes mild recovery on stronger Asian showing

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Boeing_747After the dismal numbers crunched up in the past months, air cargo volumes rose in June 2016, in large part on account of the improved performance of the Asia-Pacific region, according to the latest traffic figures.

WorldACD said worldwide chargeable weight improved by 2.7% year-over-year in June. It attributed the uptick to a strong showing of the Asia-Pacific region, which grew by 7.1% in incoming and by 6.6% in outgoing air cargo.

Europe continued to do well as a destination, growing 4.8% year-on-year, but Africa and Central & South America fell back, in incoming as in outgoing air cargo volumes. With a drop of almost 11%, African imports were particularly hard hit. North America performed on average, while the region Middle East & South Asia (MESA) was lackluster with a performance below the other areas in the northern hemisphere.

Most product categories grew in June more or less in line with general cargo, except pharmaceuticals, which showed an increase of over 10%. Thanks to this growth, with yields well above average, the overall US dollar yield in June remained stable, i.e., the same as in May 2016.

In the second quarter, average year-on-year volume increased 2.1% worldwide. The smaller country pairs outgrew the larger ones, as the top 100 country pairs grew by much less than average (0.6% only). Yet 21 of these top 100 grew by more than 10%. India figured in six of these 21 country pairs, China and Germany in five, and Hong Kong in four. On destination areas, growth was only recorded for Asia-Pacific and Europe, both over 5%.

Busy month for Asia-Pacific carriers

Traffic data from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines are aligned with WorldACD figures as AAPA said air cargo demand saw modest growth for the first time since the start of the year.

Air freight volumes for Asian airlines grew by 4.1% as measured in freight tonne kilometer (FTK) terms. Offered freight capacity increased by 3.6%, leading to a 0.3 percentage point increase in the average international freight load factor to 63.6% for the month.

Andrew Herdman, AAPA director general, said, “International air cargo demand remained subdued, registering a 2.5% decline for the first half of the year, although the uptick in the June figures is mildly encouraging.”

Looking ahead, he sad the outlook for air cargo “remains a concern, reflecting generally weak trading conditions in the global economy.”

Photo: Walter Siegmund