Air cargo in Asia Pacific has continued its strong growth into 2017 with freight tonne kilometres up 4.7 per cent in January, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) says.
The data from the 31 Asia Pacific based carriers showed freight tonne kilometres (FTK) were up 4.7 per cent to 5.4 billion.
Capacity also increased by 3.8 per cent to 9 billion available FTKs, with load factors increasing 0.5 percentage points to 59.4 per cent.
AAPA director general, Andrew Herdman says: “The year started on an encouraging note for Asian carriers, with both international air passenger and cargo markets growing strongly, boosted by the timing of the Lunar New Year holidays.”
FTKs grew 1.8 per cent in 2016 to 66.2 billion with volumes picking up in the second half of the year following a slow start, and in December FTKs had been up 8.7 per cent 6.1 billion.
