Cargo volume handled by Philippine air carriers grew 8.8% in 2015 to 272.707 million kilograms from 250.681 million kg in 2014, according to latest data from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB).
Low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific continued to account for the biggest market, handling 118.947 million kg for a 43.6% share of the total 2015 volume. However, this is 2.1% lower than the carrier’s liftings of 121.538 million kg in 2014.
Again in second place was PAL Express with a 24.8% contribution or 67.855 million kilos lifted, which is 9% lower than the 74.575 million kg the low-cost carrier shipped in 2014.
PALEx’s sister and flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), which cornered 18.6% of the total with 50.709 million kilos, also stayed put in third place. PAL’s 2015 volume was 72% higher than 2014’s 29.552 million kg. CAB data showed that since 2006, PAL’s annual cargo volumes had been around 50 million to 60 million kg, dipping only in 2014.
Budget carrier Air Asia Zest airlifted 16.678 million kg in 2015 to stay in fourth place and improve by 13.4% on its previous year’s performance of 14.442 million kg.
Cebu Pacific’s sister carrier, Cebgo, saw a 135.3% surge in cargo handled to post an overall volume of 16.657 million kg from just 7.06 million kg in 2014. The airline accounted for 6.1% of total 2015 volume to remain in fifth place.
Budget carrier Air Asia had a 0.5% share with 1.239 million kg, a 58.3% decline from 2014’s volume of 2.968 million kg.
Boutique airline AirSWIFT’s volume last year also went down, declining 21.3% to 346,048 kg from 439,658 kg in the previous year. AirSWIFT, formerly Island Transvoyager Inc., is the only boutique airline offering daily round-trip flights from Manila to El Nido, Palawan, and Cebu to El Nido, and Manila to Sicogon.
Another boutique airline, Magnum Air, showed the biggest improvement with a 218% growth in volume to 275,517 kg in 2015 from 86,621 kg in 2014. The carrier accounted for 0.2% of the 2015 total throughput.
According to the International Air Transport Association, global air freight volumes expanded 2.2% in terms of freight tonne kilometres in 2015 compared to 2014, the modest improvement reflecting sluggish trade growth in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Cargo in Asia-Pacific, accounting for around 39% of freight traffic, expanded by a moderate 2.3% in the same period. – Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of khunaspix at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
