Although there is an overall increase in freight hours of airlines in mainland China, the country's air cargo capacity still fall behind global top cargo airlines in daily aircraft utilization due to slot limits, according to VariFlight, China's leading aviation data technology provider.

Utilization of Cargo Airlines

By comparing daily aircraft utilization of the world's major cargo airlines in the 11th week of 2020 (March 16-March 22) with the peak value of last year (December 2019), VariFlight finds an overall increase in freight hours of airlines in mainland China, among which SF Airlines, China Cargo Airlines and YTO Airlines recorded a growth of more than 20% in terms of daily aircraft utilization. 

Meanwhile, some international cargo airlines, like FedEx and UPS, had a particular decrease in daily utilization.

However, through further analysis of average landing time, it can be seen that Chinese cargo flights still fall behind global top cargo airlines in daily aircraft utilization due to slot limits.

Freight is closely related to national economy. Currently, freight demand is further boosted by the state's policy of encouraging resumption of work and production. VariFlight proposes to offer more daytime slots to support the 24-hour transit of freight transport, thereby accelerating restoration of freight capacity and the economy, especially the tertiary industry.

Facts on China's Aircraft Fleet: Short in Freighters

Currently, over 4,000 commercial aircraft are operated in China, including passenger aircraft, freighters and business aircraft, while passenger aircraft takes the largest share (96%), implying the huge demand and supply of the passenger traffic and the short in freighters.

Since China is a great manufacture and agricultural power where the e-business is developing remarkably as well, its demand in air cargo is undoubtedly huge. Based on the ratio the passenger aircraft to the freighters, it is convinced that most cargo demands are met by the belly hold of the passenger aircraft and foreign cargo carriers.

However, in the situation of COVID-19, most passenger flights have been ceased in China, exposing the insufficiency in the cargo capacity. Compared with the United States, this problem is more prominent: FedEx operates 370+ freighters which is nearly doubled of that in China. According to such a situation, the State Council of China, recently, published the policy to promote air cargo development

For the aircraft size, narrow- bodied aircraft hold the largest proportion on the cargo markets (71%) . On one hand, the demand on the short-haul market is strong in cargo flights. On the other hand, considering the size of the freighter fleet, the lack in wide-bodied freighter restrict the air cargo development in China.

This article is excerpted from COVID-19 Outbreak: Analysis of Global Aviation Operation (Updated Mar 30, 2020)