It’s mid-summer, traditionally the quieter time of the year, but the market has not dipped as we had previously anticipated. It remains strong and not just because of e-commerce out of the Chinese Mainland; we’re seeing encouraging demand across the network and within Asia as well. The robustness of the market is in line with the positive sentiment reflected by the PMI (purchasing managers’ index) for export orders, and consistent with some improvements in macro-economic trends.  Our own analysis is in line with conversations I’ve had with our partners, that there will be strong demand over the peak season.

We had a large stand at the Air Cargo China exhibition in Shanghai in late June. It was the first time we had exhibited there, and we were very pleased with the response. These events are excellent occasions to meet many key customers and contacts from across the industry. Our Director Cargo, Tom Owen, joined the event as well and was met with requests for space and additional capacity. Since the event, we have announced flights to Ningbo, which will be served four times a week starting from 1 August.

With a busy peak predicted, we will be tweaking our capacity, adding freighter frequencies on to key high-demand lanes. Our fleet has undergone a summer health-check to further reinforce reliability over our busiest period, so we can put valued capacity where it is most needed by our customers and partners.

This month, we have stories about two of our important global partners. Firstly, DB Schenker, which has become the biggest contributor to Cathay’s Corporate Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Programme. We are very grateful for DB Schenker’s investment in this important programme. I strongly believe that partnerships are critical for sustainability; it has to be a collaborative effort. Aviation’s net-zero target for 2050 will only be achievable through relationships with like-minded organisations. So, it's great for us to be able to highlight the deal in which DB Schenker has committed to purchase 878 tonnes of SAF. We're excited to be creating an ecosystem of companies within air cargo that are willing to work together to try and solve the biggest conundrum of our time.

We also meet Chief Operating Officer Airfreight at Hellmann, Jan Kleine-Lasthues, who shares our optimism for the coming peak. He highlights fashion as a vertical that will perform strongly during that time, as there is both strong consumer demand but also impact from the Red Sea situation, which is generating a strong market in sea-air shipments from the Indian Subcontinent to Dubai and from there by air to the world to avoid the long voyage around the African cape.

Conservation of the natural world was also behind two of our recent passengers travelling with us from Hong Kong’s Ocean Park back to Chengdu. Two Sichuan golden snub-nosed male monkeys, Little Peanut and Yellow Bean, flew to Chengdu Zoo, where they will join a breeding programme that helps protect the future of this endangered species, which is unique to western China.  As well as being a great demonstration of the Cathay Live Animal solution, shipments like these help strengthen the cultural ties that underpin our unique position of having deep roots in Hong Kong and being proudly part of China, and show air cargo’s value whatever the season. Stay tuned for more news on animal passengers.