Pactl and Turkish join the new-record club

To our list of record-breaking November cargo performances we now add Pactl and Turkish Airlines. And not just a record month for these two, but a record year, as both have already surpassed last year’s full-year totals.

Shanghai Pudong International Airport Cargo Terminals Co. Ltd (Pactl) handles just under half the cargo moving through PVG. In November, it reported its monthly handle up 13.8% to an all-time monthly record 147,000 tonnes, continuing a pattern of strong growth in 2014.

For November, Pactl’s international volume was up 13.9% to 147,000 tonnes, while the much smaller domestic volume was up 13.0% to 10,000 tonnes (most of Shanghai’s domestic cargo moves through nearby Hongqiao Airport).

For the year through November, Pactl’s handle was up 16.3% to 1.37 million tonnes. This eleven-month total is already 5.6% higher than the company’s full-year handle in 2013. Assuming no surprises in December, Pactl looks likely to hit 1.5 million tonnes this year,  up about 16% over 2013 and a new full-year record.

Given that Pactl handles just under 50% of the cargo at PVG, we expect the airport’s full-year handle for 2014 to be about 3.1 million tonnes, up about 7% over 2013.

A record month and a record year for Turkish Airlines 8,000 kilometers to the west of Shanghai, Istanbul-based Turkish Airlines reported its November cargo volume up 13.4% y-o-y to 60,911 tonnes. An all-time monthly record, and the first month ever that Turkish has carried over 60.000 tonnes.

For the first eleven months of 2014, Turkish’s cargo volume was up 19.0% to 609,000 tonnes. As is the case with Pactl, Turkish has already topped it’s full-year 2013 total, setting a full-year record before the year is even finished.