Asian air freight figures point to dramatic economic slowdown

Asian air freight traffic continues to decline sharply in what is usually a pre-holiday peak period for shippers. It points to weak holiday retail sales, which would put further pressure on the global economy.

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) reports an 11.0% decline in cargo traffic (FTKs) in Oct-08 year-on-year. Despite a 7.5% reduction in cargo capacity, the average international cargo load factor for the month fell 2.6 percentage points to 65.4%. AAPA international air cargo traffic has registered a 2.9% decline in FTK terms for the first ten months of the year.