Asia Pacific airlines report international air cargo figures continue to decline

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has announced its traffic figures for the month of October. The month showed a continuation of the established trends for 2011, with further growth in international air passenger travel, but international air freight markets remained weak.

Asia Pacific-based airlines carried a total of 16.5m international passengers in October, an increase of 5.0% compared to the same month last year. Overall, international passenger traffic, in revenue passenger kilometre terms (RPK), grew by 5.1%.

However, international air cargo markets showed further weakness in October, with Asia Pacific carriers reporting a 7.7% decline in freight tonne kilometre (FTK) terms, compared to the same month last year (see Ti Dashboard – Air Cargo: Carriers). The average international air cargo load factor for Asia Pacific carriers fell by 3.9 percentage points, to 66.8%, after a 2.4% reduction in offered freight capacity.

Commenting on the results, Andrew Herdman, AAPA Director General said, "Asian carriers have continued to see growth in demand for both business and leisure travel, with an overall 3.7% increase in international passenger numbers for the first ten months of the year. However, air freight markets remained weak, with international air cargo demand declining by 4.5% compared to the same period last year. Asian exports have been negatively impacted by the pattern of slower economic growth seen in Europe and North America, particularly in the second half of the year."

Quelle: eyefortransport
Portal: www.logistik-express.com