Trans-Pacific air freight markets will continue to benefit from shipper demand as U.S. ports take several months to clear the backlog of containers that stacked up during the protracted waterfront labor dispute between terminals and the union.

International air freight demand accelerated late last year, driven by strong growth in shipments of electronic goods going into the year-end festive season, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) said today.

Asia’s competitive airline environment is placing intense profitability pressure on carriers in the region, but the focus on costs will not see air cargo shippers facing the wide scale route cutbacks, reduced frequencies and rolled shipments that have afflicted their ocean freight counterparts.

Steady growth in air freight demand was recorded by Asia’s airlines during September as the industry continued to benefit from rising international trade.

The latest figures from Asia’s airlines confirm that air cargo demand got off to a solid start in 2014.

The profitability of Asian carriers with major freighter fleets continues to be negatively impacted by the overhang of excess capacity, but the long-term outlook for air freight is “encouraging,” according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines reported preliminary traffic figures in June showed demand for air cargo continued to be weak.

The air cargo downturn suffered by Asia’s carriers in 2012 has continued this year.

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, a trade group of airlines based in the Asia-Pacific region, today reported international air cargo demand, expressed in freight metric ton kilometers...