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Air cargo demand in Asia rises 1.8pc from January to November

PRELIMINARY traffic figures for 31 Asian airlines show that growth in air cargo volumes, measured in freight tonne kilometres, slowed to 1.8 per cent from January-November 2015, indicating that cargo markets remain relatively weak amid the slowdown in global trade.

"Air cargo is suffering from market weakness in major trading economies, signs of inventory 'overhang', and excess capacity," said director general Andrew Herdman of the 16-strong Asia Pacific Airlines Association (AAPA), whose members operate 6,300 aircraft and carried 20 million tons of cargo in 2014.

"Cargo operators have been experiencing difficult market conditions for the past several years. Since the global financial crisis, international trade has grown no faster than GDP, in marked contrast to the previous two decades when trade typically expanded at twice the rate of global GDP growth, " said Mr Herdman in a report by AIN Aviation International News, New Jersey.

Consequently, the industry has been characterised by "relatively weak demand, and highly competitive shipping rates. With the overall volume of cargo not growing as much as had been expected, and with the share of [cargo] carried by passenger aircraft increasing, there is an oversupply in capacity, particularly for dedicated freighter aircraft which have seen falling values and lower utilisation."

With the region projected to order 40 per cent of all new aircraft over the next 20 years, AAPA is concerned that adequate provision be made to accommodate the expansion to avoid congestion, operational delays and other inefficiencies at airports in the region.

"The growth in traffic demand is creating infrastructure challenges, and even the best-managed airports are showing signs of congestion today, notably during peak hours. It is critically important that the associated aviation infrastructure, including airports, runways, terminal capacity and air-navigation services, keeps pace."

AAPA member airlines are: Air Astana, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, Dragonair, EVA Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Japan Airlines, Korean Air Lines, Malaysia Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways International.