Late 2016 surge sees improvement in Asian airline cargo demand

An end of year surge in demand saw air cargo demand at Asian carriers for 2016 edge ahead of the previous year’s level.
The end-of-year figures from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) show that air cargo demand measured in freight tonne kms (FTKs) ended last year 1.8% up on the 2015 levels.
This follows a second-half surge in demand that saw FTKs improve by 5.7% during the final six months of the year compared with a 2.2% decline during the first half. In December there was an 8.7% improvement in FTKs.
AAPA director general Andrew Herdman said: “After a lacklustre start to the year, air cargo markets picked up pace in the second half of the year, with broad-based expansion in manufacturing production and international exports, supplemented by growth in demand from expanding consumer markets in Asia.”
However, despite the demand improvement, average cargo load factors for the year slipped by one percentage point to 62.5% as capacity increased by 3.5%.