NE Asia-Europe capacity drops more than 20% due to Ukraine crisis

Air cargo capacity on the north east Asia-Europe trade lane has dropped 22% since the end of February when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, according to the latest figures from Accenture’s Seabury Consulting.

The consultant compared capacity on the trade between March 12-18 with February 19-25 as it has taken a few weeks for the industry to settle into a “new normal”.

During that period, total capacity on the lane has dropped from 38,100 tonnes per week to 29,600 tonnes per week.

Seabury said that cargo capacity declines are driven by European carriers, including Russian airlines, and integrators as they were forced to cancel and re-route flights at the start of the conflict due to sanctions. Taiwan’s China Airlines also made adjustments at an early stage.

Japanese carriers began cancelling and re-routing flights after March 2, South Korean airlines from March 15, Eva Air from March 8 and Cathay on March 14.

Carriers that haven’t been affected included those from China as well as Ethiopian Airlines.

Meanwhile, global international cargo capacity between March 7 and 20 is down 5% compared with the same period in 2019.

Transpacific capacity is up 12% eastbound and 13% westbound and transatlantic is down 6%. Capacity from north east Asia to Europe is 41% down on two years ago as capacity was already down around 10% before the Chinese New Year and has been further affected by the Ukraine crisis.

Damian Brett  www.aircargonews.net