Air cargo volumes at Hong Kong international airport, the world’s largest cargo airport, rose1.1% last month, the first year-on-year rise since March last year, sparking a more optimistic
outlook for the coming months and offsetting continued weak volumes in Europe.Cargo volumes at Hong Kong grew by 1.1% to 333,000 tonnes, driven primarily by a 3% year-on-yeargrowth in exports. During the month, cargo throughput to/from South East Asia outperformed otherkey regions, the airport authority announced yesterday.
Over the first five months of the year, cargo dropped by a slight 0.9% year-on-year to 1.6million tones. On a rolling 12-month basis (June 2011-May 2012), cargo tonnage decreased 4.5% to3.9 million tonnes.
Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong, was delighted bythe growth in cargo throughput despite current market volatility. “Both passenger traffic andaircraft movements continue to perform steadily, while cargo volume recorded its first positiveyearly growth in 14 months. Going forward, we remain cautiously optimistic and will continue tomonitor closely the impact of economic uncertainties on the aviation industry.”
In contrast, in Europe, London Heathrow recorded a 3.8% fall in cargo traffic in May, likely dueto continued economic problems, especially in the eurozone, airport operator BAA said. FrankfurtAirport had a 10.6% rise in cargo volumes last month but its figures continue to be impactedheavily by the night flight ban introduced last autumn.
IATA recently said that it has started to see an upward trend in world air cargo compared tolast autumn even though its latest figures showed a 4.2% drop in April. The airline associationcurrently expects world air cargo volumes to be flat this year.
“There are signs that cargo has bottomed out. Amid the many distortions that have marked thefirst four months of the year, it is possible to identify the start of a growth trend in cargo forsome parts of the world. But economic uncertainty in Europe makes it very difficult to beoptimistic in the near to medium-term,” Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO, said lastmonth.
