The Freight 50: Analysis of air cargo growth in 2017

Steep climbers

While the growth among the top 20 percent of the Freight 50 list was notable, it paled in comparison to the carriers in the middle of the pack that saw air cargo traffic growth well in excess of 30, even 50 percent.

The fastest organic growth we saw on the list this year went to Silk Way West Airlines, which saw traffic skyrocket by more than 58 percent in 2017 to 2.43 billion FTKs, due to an increase in e-commerce traffic between Europe and Asia. “We are continuing to further pursue a growth strategy in 2018 albeit at a slower but still very fast pace,” said Wolfgang Meier, CEO of No. 33 carrier Silk Way.

Other fast-growing operations include No. 32, Kalitta Air, which grew nearly 57 percent in 2017 to an estimated 2.44 billion FTKs; No. 41 Aeroflot, which saw its FTKs rise by 44.8 percent; and No. 42 Jet Airways, which increased its traffic by almost 43 percent to top 1 billion FTKs last year.

Ethiopian Airlines, which is no stranger to rapid growth at No. 35, saw a nearly 43 percent percent boost in 2017 business to breach the 2 billion FTK plateau. Yamrot Nigussie, manager of market distribution for Ethiopian Cargo, cited “huge cargo traffic growth” on Ethiopian’s Asia-to- Africa and Europe-to-Asia trade lanes as the secret to its success. He also said the carrier opened its 600,000-tonne-capacity terminal in Addis Ababa, along with a Zaragoza-Mexico City-Los Angeles freighter route, plus more frequencies to China.

Another high-flyer was U.S.-based United Airlines, which achieved 36.4 percent FTK growth last year, placing it two spots higher at No. 21. Jan Krems, president of United Cargo, said the increase came from “cultivating long-term partnerships with our customers,” including the initial phase of the joint venture partnership between United Cargo and ANA Cargo – eastbound service from Japan to U.S. and Canada – which began in 2017.

As it has for the last few years, Turkish grew by another impressive double-digit rate – 35.3 percent this time, to reach 4.9 billion FTKs, moving the carrier up two rungs to No. 20 on the list. Omer Can, press officer for Turkish, said the opening of the Istanbul New Airport later this fall will allow Turkish to continue its expansion, giving the carrier 4 million tonnes of annual cargo capacity at the new facility.

No. 11, Cargolux, enjoyed a surge of more than 1 billion more FTKs in 2017, a 13.8 percent rise over 2016. Cargolux spokeswoman, Moa Sigurdardottir, said the rise in FTKs at the Luxembourg-based carrier came about from improved consumer confidence, demand for e-commerce trade, positive GDP growth and inventory build-up. “It was not any one specific item but a combination of all,” she explained.

The 13.8 percent growth rate for carriers in the Air China Group (No. 13) came as a result of larger trans-shipment volumes, said Ray Lo, vice president of service and operations at Air China Cargo. “Much of Air China Cargo’s growth last year was due to better utilization of belly space,” he said. Rather than rely on point-to-point flights, the Beijing-based carrier has doubled-down on efforts to leverage the hub-and-spoke nature of Air China’s networks. Lo said the establishment of a Hub Operation Center a year ago in Beijing has helped Air China Cargo’s freighters “feed” the bellies on Air China’s domestic passenger flights more effectively.