Signs of budding recovery for Asia-Pacific

PRELIMINARY traffic figures for February show some growth for air cargo markets. In freight tonne kilometres (FTK), cargo grew 7.8 per cent, with capacity up six per cent, and an average international cargo load factor of 66.1 per cent.

Andrew Herdman (pirctured), director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, says the figures were encouraging but that airfreight is still weak.

“The region’s carriers recorded a 4.3 per cent decline in international freight traffic for the first two months of the year; a reflection of continued weakness in airfreight markets, where surplus capacity has also been putting downward pressure on shipping rates.”