Air Cargo

The air freight market out of Asia is taking off, with solid figures reported by terminals, carriers, forwarders and the semiconductor industry, which plays a significant role in driving air cargo growth.

Air France-KLM, Europe’s largest cargo airline by revenue, is about to reveal whether it plans to shed its dedicated freighter fleet.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol posted a market-beating 8.8 percent growth in cargo traffic in the first half of the year, more than twice the increase at its closest rival London Heathrow Airport.

Qatar Airways today said it plans to order four new Boeing 777 freighters with an option for four more, bolstering its ambitious bid to become a Top 5 cargo airline by 2018.

Lufthansa Cargo is cutting freighter capacity in response to continued weakness in global cargo demand that saw its volume slump by 8 percent year-on-year in June with no signs of a pickup in sight.

Air France-KLM trimmed its 2014 profit forecast by up to 12 percent, citing “persistently weak” cargo demand.

Endochoice, a six-year-old Atlanta-based importer of medical devices and disposable infectious control supplies and services for gastroenterologists, most of whom were in the U.S., had to reengineer its global supply chain last year when it acquired high-tech medical companies in Israel and Germany and began to manufacture and distribute a sophisticated new system for colonoscopies internationally.

It’s business as usual for air cargo shippers despite the heightened security at foreign airports with flights connecting to the U.S., the executive director of the Airforwarders Association says.

Forwarders remain unimpressed with new European Union air cargo screening regulations that have been in effect for a week, although no major disruptions have been reported.

Global air cargo traffic grew 4.7 percent in May from the previous year, with all regions posting increased volumes as world trade and business confidence recovered from a weak first quarter, the International Air Transport Association said.

Global sea and air freight rates could decline by as much as 2.5 percent by the end of 2014, experts at Drewry Maritime Research say.

While many air freight carriers have seen their cargo shift to ocean during the long recovery from the Great Recession, DHL Express has experienced the opposite.

Rumors that the new iPhone 6 will be launched in September have not only consumers eagerly anticipating Apple’s latest model smartphone. Millions of the China-made phones will be shipped across the world in freighters and in the belly holds of airlines, providing a welcome spike in revenue and yields for the air cargo industry.

The loss-making Air China Cargo joint venture between Cathay Pacific and Air China will be given a cash injection by its shareholders of $320 million.

Etihad Airways today established a foothold in Europe’s second-largest air freight market with an agreement in principle to acquire a 49 percent stake in Italian flag carrier Alitalia.

Thai Airways is in “critical” condition, according to a report from Thailand’s State Enterprise Policy Office, as the military junta prepares to replace five board members in a management reshuffle of the troubled carrier.

Shanghai Pudong International Airport Cargo Terminal Ltd. (PACTL) continues to capture market share.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration will no longer require the air cargo industry to report its pre-screened volume monthly, saving shippers and forwarders hundreds of hours of time.

Overcapacity problems in both maritime and air freight markets will continue to hurt the industry in the coming months, according to a new Stifel survey.

Tough screening regulations applying to air cargo being flown into the European Union will be enforced from July 1, but with just two weeks to go the industry has little idea which carriers, airports and forwarders have met the security requirements.

Industry experts say there’s one unintended side effect of maritime uncertainty: the chance for air freight volumes to soar.

The cargo division of Malaysia Airlines has appointed an acting chief executive to replace Mohd Yunus Idris, who left the company this week.

Lufthansa today warned that an expected rebound in its cargo business hasn’t materialized and there’s no pickup in sight as it lowered its profit targets for the next two years.

American Airlines is adding Hong Kong and Shanghai to its daily Asian routes this week as the carrier capitalizes on 12 consecutive months of air freight growth and improving yields.

The Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarders and Logistics (HAFFA) has joined a coalition of global counterparts in calling for the U.S. federal government to seek input from small and midsize forwarders before expanding the Air Cargo Advanced Screening (ACAS) program

Air China Cargo and China Postal Airlines have strengthened their strategic partnership with the launch of a new service between Guangzhou and Nanjing as the carriers move to capture a growing share of the fast expanding mainland express market.

Two Arab Gulf air cargo carriers are expanding freighter services, underscoring the strength of the region’s carriers in a weak global air freight market.

Airlines in Asia are watching freight volumes creep up and daring to think about a peak season, but the steady addition of new passenger routes out of the region and increasing flight frequencies to existing destinations are undermining the improving demand for cargo.

Logistics providers operating in Thailand and the companies they service are no strangers to supply chain risk, and the latest installment of martial law imposed nationwide on May 22 saw them again reaching for contingency plans.

Growth in the express segment powered Transport Corporation of India to higher profit in fiscal year 2013-14, which ended March 31.

The global air cargo market saw demand grow 3.2 percent in April from a year earlier, but traffic was down from previous months due to a further slowdown in emerging markets, led by China, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Robert Song, Cargolux’s senior vice president and head of Asia Pacific, has been ousted just weeks after brokering a deal that saw Henan Civil Aviation & Investment Co (HNCA) acquiring 35 percent of the Luxembourg freighter operator.

The revenue from China’s fast-growing e-commerce business is masking a decline in the price per parcel that is expected to spur consolidation.

U.S. shippers haven’t been this optimistic about volume growth in the coming 12 months since The Hurt Locker won the Academy Award for Best Picture and an Icelandic volcano disrupted flights to and from Europe.

It occupies only 300 square feet in the world’s biggest international airport, but American Airlines Cargo’s first European temperature-controlled facility, which opened in London Heathrow last week, underscores the rise of health care as a key driver of global transport demand.

Profits in international forwarding are becoming increasingly squeezed as competitors drop prices to gain volumes and as underlying rates remain weak due to overcapacity and slowing growth in both ocean and air markets.