Airline News
Cathay Cargo says business is “flat”
July 20th 2015
Combined traffic figures for Cathay Pacific Cargo (including Dragonair) released last week showed a 2.2% year-on-year cargo load factor decrease in June, as volume grew 0.5% but capacity increased 5.9%. "Growth in the cargo markets has been softening ... and we saw a continuation of this trend in June," said Mark Sutch, Cathay's general manager for cargo sales and marketing. He added Cathay experienced "sporadic" demand and "strong competition" from Mainland China, its largest source market. Read More »
On July 1, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said cargo growth had "undoubtedly come off the boil" due to a weak global economy. Asia-Pacific freight carriers reported slow growth as a result of poor import-export performance, with first-quarter trade volumes in emerging markets in the region down approximately 10% at the end of the first quarter.
Meanwhile, U.S. cargo heavyweight FedEx is said to be close to finalizing a new B767-300F order with Boeing, Leeham News has reported. Quoting market intelligence, the site said FedEx was keen to offload its ageing 68 A300-600Fs, 56 MD-11Fs and 45 DC-10Fs. It could order as many as fifty B767-300Fs and possibly ten B777-Fs as part replacement, which would also support the growth of its Guangzhou and Hangzhou hubs. FedEx's board is due to meet in Seattle later this month. At press time, FedEx operated 24 B767 and 25 B777 freighters with an additional 35 and 18, respectively, still on order.
