Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region recorded 1.8% year-on-year growth in cargo demand for 2016 with approximately 66.3 billion freight tonne kilometres, according to preliminary traffic figures released by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.

Air cargo demand had contracted 2.2% year-on-year in the first six months of 2016, but rebounded to a 5.7% year-on-year increase in the second half of the year.

“After a lacklustre start to the year, air cargo markets picked up pace in the second half of the year, with broad-based expansion in manufacturing production and international exports, supplemented by growth in demand from expanding consumer markets in Asia,” said Andrew Herdman, director general of AAPA.

Available freight capacity rose by 3.5% compared to 2015, leading to a load factor of 63.5%, which was 1.0 percentage point lower than last year, according to the association.