United

Q2 delivers best quarter since 2010-11

News Feed
Wednesday, 23 August 2017

The latest WorldACD report shows continuing strong cargo volumes for June 2017 along with continued recovery in US yields.

The volume increase year-over-year (YoY) for the month was 10.5 per cent, accompanied by an increase in Direct Ton Kilometres of 12 per cent, showing that the average distance between origin and destination of shipments continues to increase. And yield world wide, measured in USD, was seven per cent higher, a big bonus for airlines and a positive WorldACD has not seen since the recovery of 2010-2011.

In terms of volume growth, the second quarter of 2017 was the best quarter for the industry in almost seven years.

The origins Germany and Hong Kong grew most in absolute kilograms. The markets from Turkey to the Middle East and South Asia, from Belgium to Asia Pacific and from Belgium to North America showed the highest volume increase in percentages: 54, 50 and 46 per cent respectively. In general, load factors increased, as capacity growth was lower than the increase in volumes in all regions.

Whereas the first quarter showed stable YoY yields, Q2 surprised with a yield improvement YoY of 5.4 per cent in USD, and of 8.1 per cent in euros. Yield improvements in Q2 were particularly visible in markets with an origin in Asia Pacific. Yields ex China grew even stronger than those from other countries in the region. Interestingly, positive yield and volume developments seemed to go hand in hand: from Asia Pacific to North America, growth of each was around 20 per cent, and from Asia Pacific to Europe at around 15 per cent. A prominent element in the growth of both volumes and yields between Asia and North America was a modest capacity increase.

The YoY yield performance in Q2 may be explained partly by movements in fuel prices and surcharges: Fuel prices were about 10 per cent higher YoY. WorldACD says past experience has taught the air cargo world that yields usually react to fuel price developments with a time delay. Since 2016 fuel prices increased strongly between Q1 and Q2, Q2 yields in 2016 were relatively low because rising fuel prices had not yet been fully factored in. Given the increasing practice of net pricing, more research needs to be done on this subject.

The month of June also showed how air cargo and geopolitics can be intertwined as the transport of perishables to Qatar increased well beyond the overall growth pattern of this sector of the business. As a matter of fact, June confirmed the trend WorldACD reported earlier, which shows general cargo growing faster than most specific product categories; only pharma grows faster than general cargo. It also confirmed that the average shipment size is growing YoY: By more than eight per cent in June and by almost seven per cent for the first half of the year.

Later in the year WorldACD will report more in-depth on specific cargo categories.

HACTL
Cathay Cargo
United

Q2 delivers best quarter since 2010-11

News Feed
Wednesday, 23 August 2017

The latest WorldACD report shows continuing strong cargo volumes for June 2017 along with continued recovery in US yields.

The volume increase year-over-year (YoY) for the month was 10.5 per cent, accompanied by an increase in Direct Ton Kilometres of 12 per cent, showing that the average distance between origin and destination of shipments continues to increase. And yield world wide, measured in USD, was seven per cent higher, a big bonus for airlines and a positive WorldACD has not seen since the recovery of 2010-2011.

In terms of volume growth, the second quarter of 2017 was the best quarter for the industry in almost seven years.

The origins Germany and Hong Kong grew most in absolute kilograms. The markets from Turkey to the Middle East and South Asia, from Belgium to Asia Pacific and from Belgium to North America showed the highest volume increase in percentages: 54, 50 and 46 per cent respectively. In general, load factors increased, as capacity growth was lower than the increase in volumes in all regions.

Whereas the first quarter showed stable YoY yields, Q2 surprised with a yield improvement YoY of 5.4 per cent in USD, and of 8.1 per cent in euros. Yield improvements in Q2 were particularly visible in markets with an origin in Asia Pacific. Yields ex China grew even stronger than those from other countries in the region. Interestingly, positive yield and volume developments seemed to go hand in hand: from Asia Pacific to North America, growth of each was around 20 per cent, and from Asia Pacific to Europe at around 15 per cent. A prominent element in the growth of both volumes and yields between Asia and North America was a modest capacity increase.

The YoY yield performance in Q2 may be explained partly by movements in fuel prices and surcharges: Fuel prices were about 10 per cent higher YoY. WorldACD says past experience has taught the air cargo world that yields usually react to fuel price developments with a time delay. Since 2016 fuel prices increased strongly between Q1 and Q2, Q2 yields in 2016 were relatively low because rising fuel prices had not yet been fully factored in. Given the increasing practice of net pricing, more research needs to be done on this subject.

The month of June also showed how air cargo and geopolitics can be intertwined as the transport of perishables to Qatar increased well beyond the overall growth pattern of this sector of the business. As a matter of fact, June confirmed the trend WorldACD reported earlier, which shows general cargo growing faster than most specific product categories; only pharma grows faster than general cargo. It also confirmed that the average shipment size is growing YoY: By more than eight per cent in June and by almost seven per cent for the first half of the year.

Later in the year WorldACD will report more in-depth on specific cargo categories.

HACTL
Cathay Cargo
HACTL
Cathay Cargo