EXTRANS GLOBAL - Air Freight News - Week 49 2025

Air Cargo General

1) Need for Profitability-Driven Route Restructuring – Southeast Asia Diversification Strategy

The keyword for the 2026 aviation market is “restructuring”. South Korea’s aviation market, which recovered rapidly post-pandemic, is expected to enter a new phase of growth in Q1 next year.

Not only is there an overall expansion of capacity across domestic and international routes, but a clear restructuring of regional demand structures has also been observed.During this critical transition period as South Korea strives to solidify its position as Northeast Asia’s largest hub, the influence of the “Korean Airport Triangle Axis (Incheon·Gimpo·Jeju)” centered on Incheon Airport is set to become even more entrenched.

Incheon International Airport is projected to account for 49% of total seats in Q1 2026, maintaining its status as the absolute hub.While market concentration poses risks, from an aviation network perspective, this structure maximizes the “power of scale”. Notably, amid fierce hub competition in Northeast Asia, Incheon is accelerating its evolution into a multi-functional hub by simultaneously fulfilling the roles of “Singapore + Hong Kong + Tokyo”.

International route capacity will increase by 5.9% to reach 28.8 million seats. While quantitative expansion is significant, the key highlight is the stark divergence in regional demand:

Japan routes recorded the highest growth, driven by a combination of independent travel, LCC expansion, and more direct flights; traffic to key cities like Shanghai, Osaka, and Tokyo is now more robust than pre-COVID levels.
Southeast Asia routes are entering a phase of capacity adjustment following explosive demand in 2023–2024. Although international route capacity is over three times that of domestic routes, domestic routes are growing faster, gradually narrowing the gap—a sign that South Korea is building a stable structure to strengthen both hub-to-destination and transfer capabilities.

Northeast Asia Network Reconstruction

2026 will bring three major inflection points to South Korea’s aviation market. First, the strengthening of the East Asia core axis—with growth across Japan, China, and Taiwan routes—will kickstart the full-scale reconstruction of Northeast Asia networks. Overcapacity on specific routes will ease, and route restructuring will shift to prioritize profitability.

An airline industry insider stated: “Aviation routes need to be restructured around profitability, while travel agencies must strengthen East Asia-focused products and implement diversification strategies for the Southeast Asian market.”

2) LCCs Accelerate Revenue Diversification with Belly Cargo as New Growth Driver

T’way Air, Air Premia, and Parata Air are expanding their cargo businesses to diversify revenue structures. Domestic low-cost carriers (LCCs) with long-haul operational capabilities are aggressively scaling up belly cargo services, creating a new competitive landscape in the cargo market traditionally dominated by full-service carriers (FSCs).

Data shows that from January to October this year, T’way Air and Air Premia transported 117,649 tons and 42,382 tons of cargo respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 20.0% and 28.7%.

Historically, LCCs focused on short-haul passenger services with limited cargo share. To address high exchange rates, unstable international conditions, and diversify revenue, they have expanded belly cargo operations—utilizing the lower cargo holds of passenger aircraft.

Analysts note that this shift from a passenger-centric LCC model to gradually increasing cargo revenue share enhances resilience against external risks (e.g., exchange rate fluctuations, market downturns) and strengthens financial stability. The structural advantage of carrying both passengers and cargo marks the full-scale transformation of LCC business models.

T’way Air: Expansion of long-haul networks to Europe and Southeast Asia has driven cargo performance growth. Its effective strategy involves leveraging remaining space after passenger baggage loading to secure large volumes of high-demand cargo, including fresh produce, semiconductor equipment, e-commerce goods, and cosmetics. The airline has also built an upgraded revenue portfolio through demand-based flexible capacity adjustment, expanded cooperation with global logistics firms, and maximized aircraft loading efficiency.
Air Premia: Leveraging the cargo capacity of its B787 Dreamliners, the carrier has expanded North America-focused cargo operations to maintain stable volumes, offering global cargo services across over 90 routes (including interline networks). In July, it signed an interline agreement with Amazon Air (the U.S.’s largest cargo airline), adding multiple new U.S. hubs beyond its existing bases (LAX, Newark Liberty, SFO) to support diverse demand for corporate logistics, global e-commerce, and third-country transshipment cargo.
Parata Air: Launched belly cargo services on October 24 via flight WE202 from Da Nang to Incheon, achieving 100% cargo load factor on its inaugural A330 widebody flight. The airline secured stable initial volumes to maintain an average payload of over 70% through late November. Through a partnership with global logistics firm Extrans Global, Parata Air has secured cargo in high-demand regions (Vietnam, Hong Kong, North America) and established a rapid-transshipment network to minimize early-stage operational risks.

3) LCCs Boost Cargo Business Share

Domestic LCCs are ramping up the introduction of medium-to-large aircraft to expand cargo operations, aligning with surging demand for high-value air cargo transportation.

Unlike passenger divisions, whose performance fluctuates sharply with peak/off-peak seasons and international conditions, cargo divisions deliver steady demand—allowing carriers to balance operational stability and revenue growth.

T’way Air and Air Premia are standout performers in recent cargo growth:

As of October, their cargo volumes reached 117,649 tons and 42,382 tons respectively, surpassing their full-year 2023 figures (102,262 tons and 37,422 tons) in just three quarters.
T’way Air’s Q3 cargo volume exceeded 11,000 tons for the first time (a 154% year-on-year increase), setting a record high.
Air Premia’s cargo division has maintained consecutive profitability and now contributes double-digit percentage of total revenue, demonstrating stable growth.

The key to their success lies in investments in cargo aircraft—specifically large aircraft and belly cargo capabilities:

T’way Air is increasing its fleet of Airbus A330 medium-to-large aircraft.
All 8 of Air Premia’s aircraft are B737-9 large jets (with 1 added this year and another planned for end-2025, bringing total fleet size to 9).
Parata Air also operates A330 widebodies for cargo services.

A shared advantage of these carriers is their widebody fleets, which offer larger cargo hold space than narrowbody aircraft (the mainstay of other LCCs) and are well-suited for long-haul routes, enabling bulk cargo to be transported quickly over long distances. For example, T’way Air’s Incheon-Rome route moved 2,160 tons of cargo in 2024.

LCCs’ increased investment in medium-to-large belly cargo aircraft signals strong long-term growth potential for the air cargo sector. While air cargo still has lower market share and limited commodity scope compared to sea freight, it has gained traction due to severe disruptions to shipping schedule reliability post-COVID:

The shipping industry struggled to adapt to the post-pandemic cargo surge after a sharp decline in volumes during lockdowns, leading to vessel shortages, logistics chaos, and skyrocketing sea freight rates—exacerbated by the 2023 Israel-Hamas conflict.
Air logistics emerged as a critical alternative, particularly for time-sensitive goods (e.g., fresh produce, premium cosmetics) where reliability is non-negotiable, with shippers willing to pay premium rates for air transport.

4) Asia-Pacific to U.S. Routes See 6 Consecutive Weeks of Rate Growth (by WorldACD)

Global air cargo spot rates have maintained a moderate upward trend since mid-November, entering the year-end peak season pattern.

Despite slowing demand from China and Hong Kong, country-specific rates on Asia-Pacific (APAC)-to-U.S. routes remain strong, with year-on-year (YoY) declines narrowing to single digits for the first time in 22 weeks.

According to WorldACD’s Week 47 data (November 17–23):

APAC-to-U.S. spot rates rose 3% week-on-week (WoW) to $5.63/kg, marking 6 consecutive weeks of growth.
Hong Kong (+7%), Japan (+14%), South Korea (+6%), and Singapore (+9%) led gains, while China saw unexpected stability (+1% WoW). This lifted the global average spot rate by 2% WoW to $2.93/kg.

Notably, after plummeting in May 2025, APAC-to-U.S. rates had remained in a slump (YoY declines of -10% to -20%) since June. In Week 47, the YoY decline finally narrowed to -8% (returning to single digits for the first time in 22 weeks), with spot rates rebounding across key markets (China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam).

5) Airlines Movement

Parata Air (WE): Launched daily flights on the Incheon-Osaka Kansai route on November 1.
T’way Air (TW): Is advancing plans to join the Star Alliance global aviation network, with ongoing practical negotiations with alliance member airlines regarding membership terms.

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