Dallas/Fort Worth sees Asia freight volumes rise 38pc

DALLAS/FORT WORTH International Airport registered a 38 per cent increase in air freight tonnage to and from Asia in December 2009 compared to the same month a year earlier.

Total cargo tonnage, including freight flown in the bellies of passenger aircraft, rose by nearly six per cent in the first three months of the airport's current fiscal year, after being up 24 per cent last December compared to the same month in 2008.

"We just had our best December for Asian cargo," said marketing vice president Joe Lopano in the Dallas Morning News.

"If imports from Asia are going up, it says something about demand in our region," said Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas economist Mine Yucel. "If exports are also going up, it says something good about our local production."

According to Mr Lopano, "the airport can be a nice pivot point between South American markets and Asian and European manufacturing centres, as well as a centrally located hub to distribute goods through North America by truck and rail."

The improvement in December comes after Germany's Lufthansa Cargo last year added alternating flights from Frankfurt to Mexico City and Guadalajara, Mexico, with both flights stopping at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. On the way back east, the freighter stops at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport again and Manchester, England, before returning to Frankfurt.

This mini-hub model is said to have raised airport officials hopes that other cargo carriers will try to copy it.

"I feel like we're in good shape," said airport chief executive Jeff Fegan. He said the airport is ahead of its budget for revenue and that American Airlines and partner American Eagle plan to add more passenger flights in coming months.

(Source: www.schednet.com)