Apple’s launch of it s new iPad in mid-March put pressure on capacity out of China with shippers and forwarders scrambling to find air freight capacity for their shipments. The demand created by
Apple snapping up capacity at premium rates over the previous couple of weeks sent freight rates soaring, by nearly 20 percent.

sharp spike, the current price level still poses a significant threat to profitability,” it said. It cut SIA’s earnings forecast by 25 percent for the year ending March 2013 after raising its estimate for jet fuel prices
to $135 a barrel from $128.