Cargo volumes carried by Asia Pacific’s airlines increased for the third consecutive month in November, thanks to recovery in global manufacturing activity, according to the latest report from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).

Buoyed by an acceleration in new export orders, international trade flows continued to rebound in November. However the demand was still down 11.3 percent year-on-year, AAPA noted.

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Airlines added capacity where it can by deploying converted passenger aircraft to carry cargo and maximising dedicated freighter utilisation. This helped to partially ease capacity shortages as reflected in the 6.7 percentage point increase in the international freight load factor, which averaged 69.5 percent for the month.

From January to November 2020, air cargo volumes were down 16.4 percent compared to the same period in 2019.