Airports in Asia Pacific saw volumes remain flat in August while the Middle East saw a small increase, according to the Airports Council International (ACI) Asia Pacific FreightFlash for August.

ACI Asia Pacific says volumes remained weak during August because of slowdowns in Asian exports and in oil producing economies. Asia Pacific saw growth of zero per cent while the Middle East was up by 0.9 per cent.

It says the largest freight airport in the region, Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) saw volumes fall by 1.4 per cent in August. When HKIA released its August figures, it blamed the drop in volumes to 361,000 tonnes on a fall in transhipments and weakness in China and Taiwan.

The association says the second largest freight airport in the region, Shanghai Pudong International Airport saw volumes fall by 0.6 per cent. Pudong does not publicly release figures but the handling agent at the airport, Shanghai Pudong International Air Cargo Terminal saw volumes increase by 4.9 per cent in August to 133,798 tonnes.

Dubai International Airport, the third largest in the region saw tonnage increase by 5.3 per cent to 207,427 tonnes.