Singapore Changi Airport saw airfreight throughput decline a significant 4.8 per cent to 172,000 tonnes in May.
The airport is the latest air cargo hub to report a decline in volumes as Hong International Airport reported a fall of 7.3 per cent in May, as trade disputes between China and the USA and other factors impact the flow of freight in the region.
In the first five months of the year, Changi Airport handled 820,000 tonnes of cargo, but it has seen a fall in every month with January down 2.4 per cent, February 8.3 per cent, March 1.5 per cent, April 12.8 per cent and now May’s 4.8 per cent.
Last month, the gateway did welcome a new belly route as on 18 May, Urumqi Air, a new carrier at Changi Airport, commenced thrice-weekly services to Urumqi via Wuhan.
Meanwhile, Lufthansa increased its Munich service from six times weekly to seven. Scoot added three weekly services each to Kaohsiung and Osaka (Kansai), while SilkAir has increased its services to Cairns, from five to seven weekly.
As at 1 June 2019, more than 120 airlines operate at Changi Airport, connecting Singapore to some 380 cities in about 100 countries and territories worldwide.
