AIR cargo carriers are showing stoicism in the face of a global market downturn which first showed itself in November, reports London's Air Cargo News.
'We cannot deny that the market is going down, but for us there is no reason to panic,' Qatar Airways cargo chief Guillaume Halleux.
'It is not as good as last year, but we knew it,' he told the recent Air Cargo Europe exhibition in Munich.
'This is a very cyclical industry. The air cargo industry enjoyed 36 months of consecutive growth so we knew it would turn around at some point, but nobody knew when,' he said.
Said American Airlines Cargo president Rick Elieson: 'It is just taking work to find business, whereas last year, the business came to you, you need to go out and meet people and be creative.
'We have to put this into the proper perspective ?if it were not for 2018 we would be having a great year, but of course 2018 did exist and we set goals to improve on that and so in light of that, our hopes and expectations, it is a disappointing year.'
Mr Elieson said that while volumes are down, yields were not down. Some markets did better than others such as Peru, Chile and Argentina, adding that American Airlines reduced capacity to China.
Said Delta Cargo vice president Shawn Cole: 'Things are cyclical and 2017 and 2018 were solid years for cargo. What the market is seeing now is that the market is softening, across the globe. It is every continent, every economy and there are trade discussions and tensions that are having an impact on global trade. The market will rebound.'
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'We cannot deny that the market is going down, but for us there is no reason to panic,' Qatar Airways cargo chief Guillaume Halleux.
'It is not as good as last year, but we knew it,' he told the recent Air Cargo Europe exhibition in Munich.
'This is a very cyclical industry. The air cargo industry enjoyed 36 months of consecutive growth so we knew it would turn around at some point, but nobody knew when,' he said.
Said American Airlines Cargo president Rick Elieson: 'It is just taking work to find business, whereas last year, the business came to you, you need to go out and meet people and be creative.
'We have to put this into the proper perspective ?if it were not for 2018 we would be having a great year, but of course 2018 did exist and we set goals to improve on that and so in light of that, our hopes and expectations, it is a disappointing year.'
Mr Elieson said that while volumes are down, yields were not down. Some markets did better than others such as Peru, Chile and Argentina, adding that American Airlines reduced capacity to China.
Said Delta Cargo vice president Shawn Cole: 'Things are cyclical and 2017 and 2018 were solid years for cargo. What the market is seeing now is that the market is softening, across the globe. It is every continent, every economy and there are trade discussions and tensions that are having an impact on global trade. The market will rebound.'
WORLD SHIPPING