AIR freight demand in Asia is being spurred by robust growth in e-commerce with the likes of China's Alibaba Group and rival JD.com, as well as others such as Japan's Rakuten Inc, sponsor of Spanish football giants FC Barcelona, driving demand.
The US-China trade dispute has failed to dent demand thus far and, in some cases, has even boosted shipments, according to some industry executives.
'I think right now we are probably going to see a pretty strong fourth quarter,' Boeing Co vice president Randy Tinseth said on the sidelines of an industry conference, reported Reuters.
'The economy today has been very, very strong. Frankly in anticipation of this geopolitical situation I think people are just going out and moving (cargo) quickly.'
Air cargo traffic increased by 4.8 per cent year on year in Asia Pacific between January and August, Association of Asia Pacific Airlines' (PA) data showed.
PA director-general Andrew Herdman said: 'Given this short-term effect of scrambling to meet deadlines for tariff imposition and so on we are seeing pockets - lanes and channels - where demand is stronger than expected. For the next several months the cargo picture remains relatively robust. The question is what will the outlook for next year be.'
Asian airlines account for 40 per cent of the global market as the region is a major manufacturing hub and e-commerce is growing.
'E-commerce is changing the way people are buying stuff, especially in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines,' said Airbus SE executive vice president, Asia sales, Jean-Francois Laval. 'It is coming from China, from Korea, it is coming from other parts of the region. You need a huge amount of cargo space.'
Korean Air president Walter Cho commented: 'Last year the cargo market was extremely hot. In 2018 it still grew. The trade tensions in the world will have some effects but we haven't seen it yet. I see constraints coming in a very short time. However, we are preparing for it.'
He added: 'Anything from the US to China and vice versa is going to be affected. We are looking at alternate markets to China and the US as well.'
Japan Airlines president Yuji Akasaka said the trade war had made no change to the cargo market to date and he only expected an impact if 'extremes' occurred.
'If it does happen it may affect us in the future but as of right now we haven't seen it and hope it will cool down and go back to normal,' he said.
In the short term, the trade war impact has not been too visible because initial tariffs were on items not typically transported by air such as metals, PA's Mr Herdman said. That is starting to change, however, as duties apply to more goods.
The US-China trade dispute has failed to dent demand thus far and, in some cases, has even boosted shipments, according to some industry executives.
'I think right now we are probably going to see a pretty strong fourth quarter,' Boeing Co vice president Randy Tinseth said on the sidelines of an industry conference, reported Reuters.
'The economy today has been very, very strong. Frankly in anticipation of this geopolitical situation I think people are just going out and moving (cargo) quickly.'
Air cargo traffic increased by 4.8 per cent year on year in Asia Pacific between January and August, Association of Asia Pacific Airlines' (PA) data showed.
PA director-general Andrew Herdman said: 'Given this short-term effect of scrambling to meet deadlines for tariff imposition and so on we are seeing pockets - lanes and channels - where demand is stronger than expected. For the next several months the cargo picture remains relatively robust. The question is what will the outlook for next year be.'
Asian airlines account for 40 per cent of the global market as the region is a major manufacturing hub and e-commerce is growing.
'E-commerce is changing the way people are buying stuff, especially in countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines,' said Airbus SE executive vice president, Asia sales, Jean-Francois Laval. 'It is coming from China, from Korea, it is coming from other parts of the region. You need a huge amount of cargo space.'
Korean Air president Walter Cho commented: 'Last year the cargo market was extremely hot. In 2018 it still grew. The trade tensions in the world will have some effects but we haven't seen it yet. I see constraints coming in a very short time. However, we are preparing for it.'
He added: 'Anything from the US to China and vice versa is going to be affected. We are looking at alternate markets to China and the US as well.'
Japan Airlines president Yuji Akasaka said the trade war had made no change to the cargo market to date and he only expected an impact if 'extremes' occurred.
'If it does happen it may affect us in the future but as of right now we haven't seen it and hope it will cool down and go back to normal,' he said.
In the short term, the trade war impact has not been too visible because initial tariffs were on items not typically transported by air such as metals, PA's Mr Herdman said. That is starting to change, however, as duties apply to more goods.