The air freight industry continued to be affected by a weakness in international trade flows across the region in June as demand fell by 7.2 per cent, according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).
AAPA reports that freight tonne kilometres (FTK) were down 7.2 per cent to 5.8 billion, while capacity in freight available tonne kilometres (FATK) increase one per cent to 9.8 billion, pushing down load factors by 5.1 percentage points to 58.8 per cent.
The June figures continue the trend in 2019 and in the first six months of the year, from January to June, demand fell 6.2 per cent to 34.3 billion, while capacity was up one per cent to 58.8 billion. Load factors were down 4.5 percentage points to 58.3 per cent.
Air cargo demand has struggled since the backend of last year and June marked the eighth consecutive monthly decline in volumes.
AAPA director general, Andrew Herdman said the figures reflected the “prevailing weakness in international trade flows across regions” as widening trade disputes and higher tariffs continued to disrupt global supply chains.
“With moderating global business optimism levels and the absence of significant progress in trade negotiations, air cargo demand is expected to remain weak,” he added.
