Air cargo across Asia Pacific remains weak with another major fall in demand in August, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) reports.

Freight tonne kilometres were down 6.4% to 5.8 billion with subdued demand conditions as businesses remaining cautious on their inventories.

Capacity in available freight tonne kilometres was up 1.1% to 9.9 billion, pushing load factors down 4.7 percentage points to 58.3%.

Year-to-date demand was down 5.9% to 46.2 billion, with capacity up 1.3% to 79 billion, pushing load factors down 4.5 percentage points to 58.5%.

Andrew Herdman, director general of AAPA says: “Air cargo demand declined by 5.9% during the first eight months of the year, with business confidence deteriorating further in August against a backdrop of heightened global trade tensions. Consumer goods markets continued to expand, but demand for intermediate goods fell further, contributing to the decline in air shipments.”