Air Cargo Carriers Struggle For Asia Pacific Market

Major trading economies are still weak which is causing air cargo carriers a great deal of suffering

Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has recently released preliminary traffic figures for the month of November and it indicates that air cargo markets were and still are weak.

Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) Director General Andrew Herdman said: “Air cargo demand narrowed to a 1.8 percent increase for the first eleven months of the year, dampened by the general slowdown in global trade”. Although the Indian market is exceptionally big but delivering air cargo to Pakistan and other countries has been slowed down considerably.

On the contrary, a continuing strong growth has been recorded in November for passenger markets. With a growth of 8.1 per cent, the Asian airlines carried a total of 252 million international travellers in the period of January to November 2015.

Herdman noted that “Demand remained strong in spite of the overall weakness in Asian currencies, and the moderation in emerging market economies.”

The slump in air cargo business directly affects so many other related businesses like door-to-door delivery, parcel delivery and other cargo related services. It is heavily affected by the weakness in major trading economies, excess capacity and signs of inventory overhang.

All the airlines of the region are focusing on their ability to respond appropriately to market demand and it’s ever evolving patterns. They are also trying to, somehow, boost their profitability and increase operational efficiency. In an effort to counter the prolonged decline in overall volumes, some supply chain managers took initiative and tried air cargo for more spot-market pricing alternatives during the Holiday Season but that did not seem very helpful.