SHENZHEN and Guangzhou appear to be mounting an air cargo rate war against Hong Kong, one senior forwarder says.
Chinese carriers appear to be taking market share from Europe's legacy carriers. IATA's latest data shows that European airlines saw volumes decrease 1.3 per cent in May year on year.
"The Chinese seem to be giving Hong Kong a slap, by opening up Shenzhen and Guangzhou," he said, reported London's Loadstar. "The Chinese carriers are reliable and some appear to have really cheap fuel?
China Southern, which recently offered freighter flights to Europe, proving popular with forwarders, and last week estimated first half net profits of CNY3.5 billion (US$550 million), driven by demand and low fuel. This stood against last year's loss of CNY1.02 billion.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China reported that cargo traffic in the mainland aviation sector had risen 6.6 per cent, to 2.99 million tonnes in the first half, while profits had reached record highs.
