Airports see volumes surge in November thanks to demand for electronics

Airports had another bumper month in November with demand for electronic consumer products driving an 8.1% improvement in cargo volumes.
The latest Airports Council International figures show that both domestic and international traffic improved during the month, increasing 5.6% and 9.2%, respectively.
Over the first 11 months of the year fright volumes are up 3% on 2015, led by growth on international routes.
The continued improvement in airport cargo demand as 2016 progressed is reflected in airline figures produced by IATA.
“The global electronics market generated [a] surge in airfreight traffic due to close release dates for competing consumer products,” ACI said.
It added that the airfreight market remained “volatile”.
Compared with November 2015, Asia-Pacific saw demand improve by 9.5%, North America increased by 8.4%, there was a 6.3% jump in Europe and the Middle East improved by 9.9%.
Latin America-Caribbean and Africa registered declines of 2.8% and 3.1%, respectively.
Looking at international volume growth, Asia-Pacific saw demand increase by 11.2%, Europe was up by 10.7% and North America increased by 6.3%.
On the domestic demand front, North America and Asia-Pacific grew 6.4% and 5.2%, while Latin America-Caribbean contracted 1.4% due to the ongoing economic problems in Brazil.

At the country level, all key airfreight markets recorded freight volume hikes during November including China (12.6%), Japan (9%), Hong Kong (7.1%), Korea (9.1%) and Chinese Taipei (14.4%).
On a year-to-date basis, the highest growth in total freight was recorded at major commercial airports in the Middle East (5.3%), Asia-Pacific (4.0%) and Europe (3.6%).