- The world’s air cargo volume fell 11% in October 2020 from October 2019, but is up 8% over September 2020, as the sector continues to bounce back steadily since April
- Air cargo revenues increased 66% in October year-on-year and 4.3% compared to September 2020
- The origin Asia-Pacific did best again in volume in October, falling 7% year-on-year, but recording the highest one-time year-on-year increase in price per kilogram of 82.4%
- China in particular is ‘thriving’ in terms of air cargo price increases
Worldwide air cargo in kilograms was down 11% in October 2020 from October 2019, but volume was 8% above September 2020.
This shows the sector’s steady rebound since April this year when volume contracted by one-third year-on-year, according to new data from WorldACD.
Airline revenues from air cargo increased 66% year-on-year and 4.3% month-on-month in October. This is the culmination of revenues rising by 48% year-on-year after April 2020, thanks to a still very high price per kilogram.
Over the past four months, air cargo revenue in dollar terms has hovered between 60% and 67% above last year for the past four months.
Freighter capacity increased by 5% month-on-month in October, while cargo capacity on passenger aircraft grew by 11% month-on-month. The load factors for the two aircraft types increased by a modest 2% and 1%, respectively, over the month of September.
Among the three largest regions, the origin Asia-Pacific did best again in volume in October, falling 7% year-on-year, but recording a year-on-year increase in price per kilogram of 82.4%.
In terms of price, the origin area Middle East & South Asia almost doubled its prices in October year-on-year.
The month-on-month price increase ex-Asia-Pacific was 9.4% against a worldwide average of 4%, in comparison to just 5.5% month-on-month increase ex-Asia Pacific in 2019.
For the first 10 months of the year, Asia-Pacific was the only region keeping its year-on-year volume loss in single figures (-9.8%), coupled with a record year-on-year revenue increase of 59%, more than double the worldwide average of 29%.
Moreover, the share in worldwide air cargo revenues generated from business originating in the Asia-Pacific countries has gone up from 41% in 2019 to 50% in 2020.
China, in particular, is thriving in terms of air cargo price increases, with a month-on-month growth in price per kilogram of 15.2%, as compared to the 10% month-on-month change in 2019, said WorldACD.
From China to Europe. the month-on-month increase was even higher at 18.7% as compared to 14.8% last year. Air cargo from China to North America attracted a price per kilogram of $5.11, while to Europe the average was $4.33.
Photo by Niels And Marco on Unsplash
