Asian demand fuels air freight growth
By Dave Hannon -- Purchasing, 7/2/2007 6:37:00 PM
Increasing demand for air freight in Asia continues to balance off more sluggish growth in North America. The International Air Transport Association said global air freight increased by 5% in May, fueled by a 10.5% increase in the Middle East and a 7.6% increase in Asia Pacific.
"The pick-up in freight, led by Asia, could be the first step of strengthening demand," IATA Director-General Giovanni Bisignani in a statement on the IATA web site.
IATA said air freight demand growth remained sluggish in North America with 2.6% growth, Europe (1.6%) and Latin America (1.1%) while African air freight demand (-3.6%) dropped sharply.
FedEx recently said its most recent quarter’s growth came primarily from increased air freight in China and India. Most recently, FedEx announced it was offering its next-business-day service available to customers throughout China.
David Cunningham, Jr., president of Asia Pacific for FedEx Express, said, “We have seen healthy and encouraging demand from our existing international customers and potential new customers. Since we began operations less than a month ago, thousands of domestic express packages have already passed through our hub in Hangzhou.”
UPS recently added more air freight capacity in and out of Singapore. "Singapore continues to be an important market for UPS in Asia and we are constantly looking at ways to expand our service for customers whether they require express, air freight, ocean freight or distribution and logistics options," said Alan Gershenhorn, president of UPS International.
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