Shanghai Airlines has signed an agreement with Wenzhou Yongqiang Airport Air Freight Co Ltd, to provide bellyhold cargo capacity from Wenzhou to northwestern city of Xian. The new route will be the first air cargo service between Wenzhou and Xian and will have a capacity of five tonnes per flight. Wenzhou airport handles an average of 80 tonnes of outbound cargo each day, reaching 100 tonnes or more during the peak season. About 20 tonnes of this cargo goes to southwestern cities of … [Read more...] about CHINA: Shanghai Air begins service to inland Chinese cities

While much of the world’s air carriers suffered severely over the past year, Chinese airlines made significant headway in earning a collective profit of CNY7.4 billion (US$1.08 billion) in 2009 with total operating revenue coming in at CNY212 billion. A year earlier the Chinese carriers turned in a CNY31.8 billion net loss. Industry analysts credit the turn-around on the recovery of the domestic economy, government subsidies, hedging gains from rising fuel prices and the revival of … [Read more...] about CHINA: Chinese carriers return to profit

With air cargo figures down 11 per cent for the full-year 2009 and passenger numbers down 5.7 per cent, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has welcomed recent signs of a recovery in traffic, but warned that the recovery depends on what it says “still appears to be a rather fragile global economic recovery”. AAPA added that the 17-member carriers made corresponding cuts in capacity resulting in an average cargo load factor of 66.1 per cent, almost unchanged from the … [Read more...] about MALAYSIA: AAPA optimistic but warns of fragility

On the heels of the latest aviation security scare involving the attempted bombing of a US airliner over Detroit at Christmas, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has urged governments to remain calm. “It is human nature that each new security incident prompts a desire to introduce yet more security measures,” AAPA said in a statement. “There is always political pressure to react, but this often smacks of the need to be seen to be doing something rather than … [Read more...] about MALAYSIA: AAPA cautions against security knee jerk

The pre-Christmas cargo surge out of Asia, driven in large part by low inventory levels provided welcome relief to a number of cargo carriers, including Cathay Pacific and its subsidiary Dragonair, who collectively carried a total of 144,000 tonnes of cargo and mail in December, up 25 per cent on the same month in 2008 when air cargo volumes were in free-fall. A new round of air cargo figures for December has been released by the major airlines, showing the beneficial effects of the … [Read more...] about HONG KONG: Asia-Pac cargo surge good news for carriers

Despite the turmoil that Japan Airlines has found itself in, international cargo volumes grew for Japan’s two largest airlines in November, but domestic cargo declined. Japan Airlines saw its first yearon- year increase in international cargo in 16 months. JAL said its international cargo volume grew 9.1 per cent to 56,552 tons in November. During the first eight months of fiscal 2009, which started in April 2009, JAL transported a total of 401,701 tons of cargo on international … [Read more...] about JAPAN: Int’l air cargo grows in Japan, domestic contracts