Asia-Pacific air cargo increases as stockpilers react to Strait of Hormuz issues
Asia-Pacific airlines had the biggest air cargo growth among all regions last month, up 10.5% year-on-year.
People worried about inflation stemming from disruption in the Middle East were stockpiling goods, providing some of the demand for air cargo.
New International Air Transport Association (Iata) data showed turmoil in the Middle East brought global passenger numbers down.
Worldwide, total air cargo demand was up 4% on April last year, but capacity was down 0.9% for international cargo flights.
Iata director general Willie Walsh said severe disruption at major Persian Gulf hubs was reshaping trade routes and constraining capacity on key corridors.
“The coming months will test how well the sector can absorb continued geopolitical uncertainty and elevated operating costs,” he said.
Iata said “massive” Middle Eastern capacity cuts outweighed capacity expansions across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.
Trade across the Pacific was resilient, Iata said, and air cargo within Asia recorded its 30th consecutive month of growth.
Air China Cargo this week ordered four Airbus A350F freighters, taking its total order to 10 of the aircraft.
The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) said war caused supply chain disruptions and higher goods prices, prompting accelerated stockpiling activity.
It said businesses and consumers trying to secure products before more price rises lent support to air cargo market growth.
Jet fuel prices more than doubled in the year to April. Iata said that was pushing airfares up.
Before the current ceasefire, major Middle Eastern hubs such as Dubai at times came under attack from Iran.
“The 46.6% fall in demand for carriers in the Middle East due to war in the region was so acute that it dragged overall demand down 3.4%,” Walsh said of passenger numbers.
“The situation for air transport remains highly volatile.”
Air New Zealand and Qantas have cut some services in response.
And they are not alone in doing so.
“Forward schedule data is showing a reduced offering in the coming months, indicating that airlines are balancing high fuel costs and weaker demand,” Walsh said.
Still, Asia-Pacific airlines achieved a 3% year-on-year increase in demand.
Capacity was also up slightly, 0.7% higher than a year earlier.
The load factor, referring to how many seats paying passengers filled, was 87.5%, a record high for April.
But Iata said there was a notable slowdown in traffic on the Japan-China corridor, because of political tensions.
The dispute largely developed after Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in November suggested Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing invaded Taiwan.
Worldwide, domestic RPK (revenue passenger kilometres) was down.
RPK measured the number of paying passengers by distance travelled.
“Growth in Brazil, China and Japan was balanced out by falls in Australia, India and the United States,” Iata said.
RPK in Australia was down 0.4% on a year earlier.
Air New Zealand on Tuesday announced cuts to flight frequencies from late July to late October.
But yesterday, it and Singapore Airlines announced capacity would be increased for Singapore-New Zealand services this southern summer.
AAPA, which included Air NZ and Qantas, said there was relatively firm traffic on long-haul routes.
It said airlines in the region carried 135 million passengers during the first four months of this year.
That was up 5.1% on the same time last year.
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.
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