Carriers from the Asia-Pacific region continue to experience weak international air cargo demand, according to statistics for March 2013 gathered by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).
Global airfreight throughput declined 3.1 percent to 5,246 freight tonne kilometers (FTK) in March 2013 compared to the same month last year.
Combined with a 2.1 percent reduction in freight capacity, the average international cargo load factor fell slightly, by 0.6 percentage points, to 69.2 percent.
For the first quarter of this year, international freight demand fell 4 percent to 13,705 FTK from 14,269 FTK in the first three months of 2012. Capacity contracted 3.6 percent and global load factor shrank by 0.2 percentage points to 65.3 percent in this quarter against the corresponding period a year ago.
Andrew Herdman, AAPA director general, said the weakness in key export markets continues to impact on the industry but added that he hopes for “some modest improvement in world trade conditions” that could see air cargo markets picking up later this year.
Photo: InSapphoWeTrust
