Air cargo’s return to normality, following the recent post-recession recovery, was disrupted inpart last month by Chinese New Year, bringing a mixed picture for airports and carriers.
The effects of Chinese New Year were apparent in Hong Kong, where the airport saw a 5.9% declinein air cargo traffic. Volumes carried by Hong Kong-based carriers Cathay Pacific and Dragonairexperienced a drop of 2.3% compared to the same month last year.
Cathay Pacific’s general manager for cargo sales and marketing, James Woodrow, said: “Demand outof the key Hong Kong and China markets was generally quite weak during and immediately after theChinese New Year holidays in early February, with a number of factories in the mainland stayingclosed for a longer period than usual. We saw some pick-up later in the month, although there wasno significant month-end rush. We managed our capacity in line with demand, cancelling a number offreighter services on long-haul trunk routes.”
Airports in Europe reported a relatively stable month, with UK airports operator BAA proclaimingthat air cargo growth has “returned to a more normal level after an 18-month trend ofpost-recession recovery”.
Its six UK airports reported an average 5.7% overall gain in cargo traffic in February. Thisincluded a 4.7% increase, to 118,000 tonnes, at its largest airport Heathrow and a 4.4% increase atthe second-largest, Stansted. The figures were boosted by BAA’s three Scottish airports, Edinburgh,Glasgow and Aberdeen, which saw average gains of around 60%. Cumulative figures for January andFebruary show 7.1% growth overall, including 6.9% growth at Heathrow and 3.6% at Stansted, comparedwith around 12% growth for the 12 months to February.
Europe’s busiest cargo airport, Frankfurt, reported a similar picture, with air freight volumegrowth of 4.3% in February to 170,000 tonnes, a new record high for a February. Air mail volumescontinued their slow decline, dropping 0.9% to 5,600 tonnes. Cumulative figures for January andFebruary bring the airport’s average air freight growth figure to 6% since the start of theyear.
Europe’s air cargo carriers experienced a mixed picture, with the Air France KLM group reportingthat its traffic declined year-on-year in February by 3.1%, despite an increase in its capacity of1.5%. It blamed the Chinese New Year for “a negative effect on traffic due to the closure offactories in Asia and the subsequent progressive recovery of associated activity”. But it said itsyields – unit revenue per available tonne kilometre (RATK) – rose in comparison with February2010.
In contrast, the Lufthansa group, including Swiss, Austrian Airlines and BMI, saw its airfreight volumes increase by more than 22% in February, primarily driven by a 25% increase intraffic carried by Lufthansa Cargo. Cargo from Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific were all up bymore than 20%, while the Middle East and Africa saw a 13.5% increase.
