Results for February reflect how the U.S. port congestion had opened up an opportunity that airfreight carriers on Asia-Pacific routes readily grabbed.
According to the Airports Council International (ACI), airfreight received a significant boost to volumes for the month as many retailers sought alternate modes of delivery due to the congestion at sea ports along the U.S. western coast.
Anchorage, Chicago, and Los Angeles experienced impressive growth of 47.6%, 47.8%, and 21.9%, respectively. Given that many Asia-Pacific airports act as net exporters of airfreight with North American airports as net importers, growth in international freight traffic for each region was 17.3% and 26.9%, respectively.
Overall, airfreight volumes grew 10% for the world as a whole in February as compared to the previous year.
As for global passenger traffic, it increased by over 6% in February, with much of the growth stemming from international travel, which grew by 7.3%.
ACI said that while all regions reported gains in passenger traffic, most of the buoyant activity stemmed from the Asia-Pacific region, with gains of 11.6% in international passenger traffic for February. Many of the busiest airports in the region posted double-digit growth for the month. The seasonal factor of the Lunar New Year taking place in February 2015, as compared with January 2014, is responsible for some of the distortion in year-over-year traffic results.
“February was a distorted month due to extensive leisure travel during the Lunar New Year. The seasonal effect masks any potential downside risks in air transport demand. Moreover, the resulting substitution effect of the sea port crisis along the Pacific coast also gave air freight a strong boost,” said ACI World Economics Director Rafael Echevarne.
While noting the consistent uptrend in aviation traffic, he sounded cautious about expectations in the months ahead. “Regardless of these short-term distortions, we have seen continued strong growth month after month in 2014 and into 2015 on a consistent basis,” Echevarne continued. “Both passenger and airfreight traffic are dancing to the beat of their own drum in the face of on-going concerns of a global slowdown. That being said, with reduced growth expectations in output in emerging markets, we have yet to see the impact this will have on airport traffic in the coming months.”
Photo: Heidas
