Air cargo shippers take aim at Asia

The theme for the upcoming Air Forwarders Association (AFF) annual conference will be “A World of Opportunities: Asia 2011.”

Brandon Fried, the association’s executive director told SCMR the reason for this is quite clear, Pacific Rim growth has been driving the global economic recovery.

“Granted, the transpacific lanes were the first to feel the negative impact of the recession,” he said, “but our constituents are very bullish on the strengthening prospects in this region.”

Indeed, an entire general session will be devoted to examining this dynamic market.

Meanwhile, other major air cargo associations are banging the same gong, heralding the Lunar New Year as an auspicious one to begin investing in new routes and distribution strategies.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) noted in its most recent report that the economies of China and India continue to lead the region’s recovery. Asia Pacific airlines (with a 45 percent market share) grew by 24.0 percent year-to-date in December 2010, and that trend is predicted to persist.

The International Air Cargo Association’s (TIACA) Executive Summit and Annual General Meeting 2011 is taking place in Bangkok, Thailand this April, with organizers telling constituents that the time is right to begin regional investment again.

“As airfreight flows change – intra-Asia traffic had grown as big as the Europe-Asia trade lane did by 2008,” said one analyst.

He noted that products earlier in their life cycle – “new evolutions of technology” such as tablet computers and e-books – could expect to have a positive impact on airfreight for many years.

“Still,” said the analyst, “Carriers face major decisions about their future fleet needs.

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