AAPA July airfreight demand surges with manufacturing growth

In what is beginning to sound like a skipping record, another airfreight group is reporting more good news about traffic. In this case, it’s the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines (AAPA) saying that airfreight demand in the Asia-Pacific region continues to soar, according to preliminary results from the association’s carriers in July.

Cargo traffic in the region grew at a faster pace than the July report from the prior year, with a 10.9 percent, year-over-year, increase in demand in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs). Load factors also increased during July, rising 3.8 percentage points, y-o-y, to 66 percent, while freight capacity expanded 4.4 percent during the same period.

From January through July, cargo volumes in the Asia-Pacific region grew by 10.4 percent “on the back of positive global business conditions,” said Andrew Herdman, AAPA’s director general. “Further expansion in manufacturing output and new business orders helped boost air shipment volumes of both intermediate and finished goods.”

With ongoing airfreight demand expected from an expanding global economy, AAPA is optimistic about the outlook for the rest of 2017. However, as is the case with most AAPA reports, the organization noted that “highly competitive market conditions” should spur airlines to focus on cost-management and securing new revenue opportunities to maintain growth in the future.

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