Weak start to the year for Asia Pacific carriers
29 / 02 / 2016
Asia Pacific carriers recorded a muted Chinese New Year air cargo demand surge in January as soft market conditions persisted.
The latest figures from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines showed that cargo demand in January declined by 0.7% year on year to 5.1bn freight tonne km.
Meanwhile, capacity for the period increased by 2.6% on a year earlier causing airlines’ freight load factor to decline by two percentage points to 59.6%.
AAPA director general Andrew Herdman said: “The usual lift in air cargo shipments seen ahead of the holiday season had been somewhat muted, as seen in the continued weakness in air cargo volumes.”
The Chinese New Year fell on February 8 this year compared with February 19 last year, suggesting the pre-New Year rush should have taken place around a week-and-a-half earlier in 2016 than 2015.
On the passenger side of the business, 24.5m international passengers were carried by the region’s airlines in January, a strong 9.2% increase compared to the same month last year.
