Asia Pacific volume slowdown continues as airlines in the region have seen cargo volumes falingl by 2.4% last November due to a slow of international trade hitting manufacturing economies.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) forecasted in December that carriers in Asia Pacific would suffer on the freight side of business in 2016. According to IATA the region is “in the front line for the impact of continued weakness in cargo revenues”.
AAPA stated demand in freight ton kilometers (FTK) fell from 5.9 billion in November 2014 to just under 5.8 billion in the same month in 2015. Capacity in available freight ton kilometers (AFTK) increased by 1.8% to 8.8 billion. The load factor fell by 2.9 percentage points to 65.7 per cent.
Between January and November 2015, cargo volumes were still up by 1.8% due to the seaport strike in US West coast giving the start of 2015 an artificial boost. The 2015AFTK had increased by 3.7%t to while the load factor has fallen by 1.2 percentage points to 63.7 per cent.
Andrew Herdman, AAPA director general, said : “Growth in air cargo demand narrowed to a 1.8 per cent increase for the first 11 months of the year, dampened by the general slowdown in global trade.”
He declared that despite passenger services benefitting from strong demand due to low oil prices, cargo is not seeing these benefits. “The air cargo business is suffering from the effects of market weakness in major trading economies, signs of inventory overhang and excess capacity.”
Herdman continues saying “Overall, the region’s airlines are focused on responding appropriately to evolving patterns of market demand, whilst making efforts to increase operational efficiency and boost profitability,”
