Air Transport

Hong Kong doesn’t just attract exhibitors and delegates to Air Freight Asia 2007 because of where it is but also because of what it is – home to the world’s largest cargo airport.

With an average of 5,700 flights a week by 86 airlines (24 all-cargo) to around 150 destinations in 47 countries, including 40 cities in China, Hong Kong easily beats Seoul and Tokyo into second and third places in the world rankings. Indeed, if you include Anchorage (Alaska) as a Pacific Rim airport, the only three non-regional airports in the top ten are Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam!

Air Freight Asia organiser Nol van Fenema explains that despite the 2007 event breaking the ‘even years’ sequence, it has attracted a wide range of exhibitors and delegates – some for the first time, like China Southern Airlines BAE Systems and Aeroflot.

Speaking to Flight Daily News yesterday he said: “This year we have four days instead of two and this, allied with the scope of the entire event, means that the opportunities for networking and even hard selling are far greater than before.”

Delegates will also be able to attend dedicated conference sessions dealing with many of the major issues that are talking points in the region. These include growth and over-capacity in the Chinese market; bilateral liberalisation in the regional cargo industry; and the ongoing saga of the size and growth potential of cargo airports.

Van Fenema says: “Despite growth in the overall size of the cake in China, there’s over-capacity which means that yields are reducing. And this is compounded by the fact that air freight flights into China are comparatively empty, while those exporting material from the country are at full capacity.”

Air Canada has reacted to this by pulling out of the market altogether, while regional airline Polar Air Cargo has reduced its overall number of freight flights.

He continues: “Some of the Asian countries are back in the industry’s Middle Ages regarding bi-lateral agreements and until we get further liberalisation – with Hong Kong and Singapore leading the way – we won’t have a level playing field. Airlines have always been a political tool and until air freighters have the same freedom as shipping companies to go to wherever, from wherever, then the industry, and countries themselves, will suffer. It will happen – one day.”

Finally, delegates will be able to discuss the thorny issue of the size and efficiency of the cargo facilities at the region’s airports. “By the time these cargo terminals open, they’re already far too small and this is hampering natural growth in the air freight business,” he explains.

“Both Pudong (Shanghai) and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia fall into this category and it’s to be hoped that networking opportunities like Air Freight Asia 2007 will enable the planners better to understand the needs of the industry to prevent terminal saturation occurring within two years of a new facility opening.”