Soft air cargo market conditions persisted for Asia-Pacific airlines in May, according to the latest traffic figures released by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).
Airfreight volumes for Asian airlines registered a decline of 0.7% as measured in freight tonne kilometer (FTK) terms. Offered freight capacity increased by 2.0%, leading to a 1.6 percentage point drop in the average international freight load factor to 61.3% for the month.
Commenting on the results, Andrew Herdman, AAPA director general, said, “International air cargo demand remained soft, with year-to-date demand registering a 3.9% decline compared to the same period a year ago, reflecting the weak trading conditions in the global economy.”
Decline for Cathay, Dragonair
As for Cathay Pacific Airways, the Hong Kong-based airline group said Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for May 2016 showed a year-on-year drop in the volume of cargo and mail uplifted.
The two airlines carried 145,102 tonnes of cargo and mail in the month, a decrease of 1.3% compared to the same month last year. The cargo and mail load factor rose by 0.1 percentage points to 62.2%. Capacity, measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometers, fell by 4.8% while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometers (RTKs) fell by 4.6%.
In the first five months of 2016, the tonnage carried fell by 1.7% against a 0.3% increase in capacity and a 3.7% drop in RTKs.
“May saw a further stabilisation in the tonnage being shipped out of some of our key markets, in particular Mainland China, Northeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific,” said Mark Sutch, Cathay Pacific general manager of cargo sales & marketing. “As per the previous number of months, demand into India remained robust and we have increased capacity into the region to cater for this accordingly.”
On earnings, he said, “The freightage yield, however, has continued to remain under intense pressure in what continues to be a challenging and capacity rich air cargo environment.”
Changi traffic holding steady
Meanwhile, at Singapore Changi Airport, the aviation hub saw cargo shipments held steady at 157,510 tonnes in May year-on-year. Year-to-date, the volume has reached 790,000 tonnes.
Photo: Nutjaru
