European, Middle Eastern carriers see growth return in May first look

After a particularly weak April for air cargo traffic, carriers based in Europe and the Middle East saw growth return in our first look at May results. Among those carriers based outside Europe and the Middle East, only China Southern Airlines reported a year-over-year increase for May traffic, of 1.1%. Turkish Cargo reported the strongest growth among those carriers tracked by Cargo Facts, of 11.3%, while Delta Air Lines reported a particularly large decline of 11.5%. Turning to the individual results: Asia-Pacific Cathay Pacific saw its cargo and mail traffic drop 2.6% drop in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs), while capacity in available freight tonne kilometers (AFTKs) rose by 4.6%. Year-to-date, the airline saw cargo traffic decline 5.3% in FTKs. Singapore Airlines reported May cargo traffic down 3.2% year-over-year to 573 million FTKs, while cargo tonnage declined by 3.1% to just over 108,000 tonnes. Year-to-date, cargo traffic is down 6.2% to 2.7 billion FTKs. Beijing-based Air China’s cargo traffic for May was 1.6% lower than in May 2018 at 423 million FTKs, for slight month-to-month growth. Overall tonnage declined by 1.5% to about 120,000 tonnes. For the first five months of 2019, traffic is down 1.4%, and tonnage is 0.9% lower than during the same period in 2018. Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines reported a slight y-o-y increase in May of 1.1%, marking a month-over-month increase of 3.5%, to 650 million FTKs. Although regional and international traffic were up, domestic traffic declined during May. Year-to-date, traffic is up by a slight 0.5% to 2.9 billion RTKs. Taiwan-based China Airlines saw an even steeper decline of 8.2% y-o-y to 450 million FTKs. These results for May continue the carrier’s four consecutive months of declines in traffic this year. Year-to-date, the carrier’s FTKs have declined 9.7% compared to the same period the year prior. Taiwan-based EVA Air reported a 6.0% y-o-y decline in traffic for May to 300 million FTKs. May’s falling traffic continued the carrier’s consecutive declines in traffic since the start of 2019. Tonnage also fell by 6.6% to roughly 52,000 tonnes. Year-to-date, EVA’s cargo traffic is down 7.6%, and tonnage is down 8.5%. Europe & Middle East Air France-KLM’s May cargo traffic rose 4.3% y-o-y to 731 million FTKs, and cargo capacity rose 2.3%, to 1.2 billion AFTKs. Though its cargo traffic y-o-y dropped from last month, Air France carried the increase, with strong growth at 7.9% y-o-y. KLM saw a 1.7% increase y-o-y. International Airlines Group saw a very slight 0.4% y-o-y increase in May cargo traffic, to 477 million tonnes. It’s an improvement from April when it reported a 1.9% y-o-y decline. Two of its subsidiaries saw strong traffic growth. Aer Lingus saw a 7.7% y-o-y uptick in May, and Iberia’s traffic increased by 6.7% y-o-y. British Airways saw a 1.3% y-o-y decline. Lufthansa Cargo Group airlines saw May traffic tick up 2.5% y-o-y to 930 million FTKs. The airlines haven’t recovered yet from traffic decreases in recent months though, still coming in cumulatively 2.1% FTKs down from last year. Turkish Cargo saw cargo tonnage make a recovery in May, after its first y-o-y decline since we started collecting regular data in 2011 this April. Cargo and mail carried in May increased 11.3% to 132,000 tons from 118,000 tons last year. Year-to-date, cargo volume increased 9.0% to 596,000 tons from 546,000 tons last year. Americas LATAM Cargo’s traffic for May declined 5.3% year-over-year to 287 million RTKs. Year-to-date, traffic is down 0.6%. However, load factors also increased 2.3 percentage points to 56.4% for the month, thanks to a 9.0% y-o-y decrease in AFTKs for May. Delta Air Lines reported a decline of 11.5%, to about 167 million cargo ton miles (or about 244 million FTKs). Year-to-date, Delta’s cargo traffic is down by 6.8%. Airports Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) saw a 7.3% plunge in cargo volume in May, to 405,000 tonnes. Year-to-date, the airport has seen a 6.4% decline. Fraport (FRA) in Frankfurt saw a slight 0.6% increase in May’s cargo traffic with a count that totals to about 185,700 mt. Airfreight and airmail volume increased at the same rate, to 178,300 mt and 7,400 mt, respectively. The airport reported that outbound cargo increased 2.3%, an exception from the downward trend that began in 2018. U.S. and Africa traffic spurred the growth, increasing 9.2% and 13.7%, respectively. Cargo exported to Asia, however, dropped 5.1%. India and Vietnam did see significant growth, at 6% and 24.7%, respectively. Middle East traffic dropped 3.4%, and Latin America saw an 8.3% plunge. Schiphol Airport (AMS) saw a 7.6% decline in cargo volume this month, dropping to 134,000 tonnes of cargo. Its mail volume increased significantly though, rising 13.2% increase to 1,860 tonnes. Inbound cargo dropped across the board, except from the Middle East, which rose 5.2%. Outbound cargo also dropped across the board, except for a 7.5% increase in shipments to North America. Heathrow Airport (LHR) saw a 7.3% y-o-y decline in May cargo volume, but a slight increase in month-to-month volumes, to 134,000 tonnes. Volumes decreased y-o-y in most of the major markets served by LHR, with traffic within the European Union declining by 11%, North America declining by 10% and Asia-Pacific by 7%, but Latin America and Africa were both up, by a respective 14% and 7%. Year-to-date, LHR’s handle declined 3.8% compared to the same period in 2018. Incheon Airport (ICN) in Seoul reported its total cargo handle at about 229,000 tonnes for May, down 7.7% from its May 2018 reported volumes. Year-to-date traffic is down 7.1% compared to the first five months of 2018, at 1.1 million tonnes. Shanghai Pudong International Airport Cargo Terminal Co Ltd (Pactl, the biggest handler at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport) reported a May cargo handle of about 148,000 tonnes – the largest handle so far in 2019, but still representing a y-o-y decline of 10.2%, thanks to an 11.2% decrease in its international cargo handle. Year-to-date, Pactl’s cargo throughput fell 10.3% through May, to about 685,000 tonnes.

European, Middle Eastern carriers see growth return in May first look

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