Most airline bosses had great worries in the first half of this year, but a lack of cargo revenue was not among them. Though worldwide volume YoY (year-on-year) contracted by more than 18% in H1-2020, revenue in USD increased by almost 21%, thanks to the capacity shortage as from Mid-March, says a WorldACD report.

In terms of volume, the origins Middle East & South Asia (MESA) and Europe suffered most: -32% and -22%. In incoming traffic, Asia Pacific and Europe each lost 16% YoY, while other regions lost more. The average rate of transporting one kilogram by air rose by 48% worldwide: the increase was largest from Asia Pacific (+76%) and smallest from Latin America (+10%), the report said.
 
The YoY volume decline in H1 was smallest in business originating in the Asia Pacific region. Volumes from this region to Europe and North America were hit much less (-6% resp. -11%) than volumes to e.g. MESA (-15%).
 
Thanks to the demand for Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), China did not show any decrease in volume YoY and remained flat, but the transport of these PPE-goods did not come cheap: air cargo charges from China rose by an incredible 136% compared to the first half of 2019.
 
As large parts of the world were in turmoil, demand for flowers fell less than average (-16%). The volume of high tech and other vulnerable goods dropped by 6% only, whilst the transport of pharmaceuticals, the evergreen in air cargo, grew with +8% YoY.
Looking at month-on-month (MoM) developments from May to June, there was a worldwide volumes increase of almost 3.5%. Coupled with a decrease in USD-yields of 21%, this resulted in a MoM revenue decrease for airlines of 19% measured in USD.
 
In other words, the extreme results of April and May (great volume loss coupled with a large revenue increase) diminished somewhat. However, the sector is still far from what it used to be, as June worldwide showed a YoY volume decrease of 20% and a yield increase of 76%.
The first weeks of July do not seem to change the present picture very much: yields have not returned to “pre-Covid-levels”. Based on the largest set of market data inputs available in air cargo, WorldACD makes the very provisional statement that worldwide yields dropped by no more than 2.4% from the last week of June through the first two weeks of July (from Asia Pacific and MESA by 4% resp. 3%). And weekly volumes were lower by mid-July than two weeks before. - TradeArabia News Service

Copyright 2020 Al Hilal Publishing and Marketing Group Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).

Disclaimer: The content of this article is syndicated or provided to this website from an external third party provider. We are not responsible for, and do not control, such external websites, entities, applications or media publishers. The body of the text is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis and has not been edited in any way. Neither we nor our affiliates guarantee the accuracy of or endorse the views or opinions expressed in this article. Read our full disclaimer policy here.