International air freight in Asia made an “encouraging revival” last year growing for the firsttime in four years thanks to rising exports of locally-made manufactured goods, according to new
figures from the region.An upsurge in exports from manufacturing hubs in the region led to a rebound in internationalair cargo markets in 2014, with demand growing year-on-year by a solid 5.4% (in freight tonnekilometres), the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines said. Carriers’ available freight capacitygrew at a relatively modest pace of 4.1%, resulting in a 0.8 percentage point increase in theaverage international freight load factor to 64.9%.
In December, Asia Pacific airlines increased traffic by 6.5%. With capacity rising by 4.7%, theyimproved their freight load factor by 1.1 percentage point to 65.5%.
Andrew Herdman, AAPA Director General, commented: “Air cargo markets experienced a welcomeupswing in 2014, with the second half of the year registering 6.0% growth compared to the sameperiod in 2013, following several years of stagnant demand.”
The improving climate for Asian air freight was also reflected in figures from Hong KongInternational Airport, the largest cargo hub in Asia and home to DHL’s Asia Pacific hub. Cargothroughput increased by 6% in 2014 to a new record of 4.38 million tonnes.
In December, Hong Kong showed a 3.1% increase, with growth driven by transshipments, which wereup 7% from the previous year. Cargo throughput to/from North America and Southeast Asia increasedmost significantly compared to other key regions during the month.
Fred Lam, Hong Kong Airport Authority CEO, said: “We are pleased to see HKIA achieving anotherrecord breaking year in 2014, which further strengthens its leading position as an internationaland regional aviation hub, supporting the economic growth of Hong Kong.”
Singapore’s Changi Airport had a fractional 0.3% increase to 1.84 million tonnes in 2014, with aslight rise of 1.4% in December, according to the airport’s operating company. Higher imports andexports offset lower transshipment volumes during the year. Airfreight shipments between Singaporeand Japan rose 7.5% on-year, boosted by new freighter flights, while two of Singapore’s key tradepartners – Australia and China – also exhibited positive growth of 5.7% and 1.3% respectively.
The figures from Asia come ahead of the 2014 traffic results from IATA which are likely to showa similar trend for the region. In November, Asia Pacific airlines, which collectively transportnearly 40% of world air cargo volumes, increased traffic by 5.9%, according to IATA figures.
