The air cargo market in the Asia-Pacific region continues to experience challenging conditions, according to preliminary traffic conditions for October 2015 from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.

Air cargo demand fell 0.7% year-on-year in October, attributed by the AAPA to continued weakness in export-import activities in major regional economies such as China, India and Japan.

The average international load factor also fell by 2.2 percentage points to 64.2%, as the available capacity increased by 2.7% year-on-year.

From January to October 2015, air cargo demand rose by 2.2% compared to the same period in 2014.

Andrew Herdman, director general of the AAPA, said that air cargo markets are expected to remain soft, given the weak trade conditions around the world.