China lifts price controls on 24 commodities, services

China will lift controls on prices of 24 commodities and services, said the National Development and Reform Commission on Sunday.

Market will decide the price of tobacco leaves, the last agricultural product to be freed from government price control, but a minimum price will be set to protect farmers, said a statement on the commission website.

Prices of railway bulk cargo, parcels and privately funded cargo and passenger transport will also be allowed to float. Railway passenger and cargo prices have been decided by the government, but lag far behind changes of road and water transportation prices, which has impeded the development of the railway sector, said Sun Zhang, a professor with Tongji University.

Prices of domestic air cargo will be freed, as well as prices of passenger transport of some airlines.

Wu Tongshui, deputy director of China Air Transport Association, said the move will help activate the market, attract more private investment and enhance the competitive edges of carriers.

Limits will be removed on port service fees, including fees on container loading, ship rubbish treatment and water supply.

Limits will be removed on factory prices of explosives for civil use.

Source: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/150104/china-lifts-price-controls-24-commodities-services

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Cargolux posts best ever October figures

Cargolux, Europe’s largest all-cargo carrier, posted its best ever October, with its fleet of 22 Boeing 747 freighters breaking records for tonnage, revenue and block hours.

Tonnage grew 6.7 percent and net revenue was up 9.9 percent from a year ago, making October the second-best month in the Luxembourg-based airline’s history after November 2013.

The carrier said it also achieved the highest daily utilization of all operators of the 747-8F at more than 16 hours a day through October.

The combined fleet of 11 747-8Fs and 11 747-400Fs operated 9,379 block hours during the month and flew 1,672 flights, including 362 from its Luxembourg hub, second only to the performance in November 2013.

Cargolux said it expects to “substantially” improve on the October results in November with more than 10,000 block hours flown in a single month for the first time ever, coupled with further increases in tonnage and revenue.

The airline made a net profit of $8.4 million in 2013 on revenue of $1.99 billion as traffic grew 16.7 percent to a record 753,848 metric tons.

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AirAsia revenue jumps 40% under cargo services

Upgrowing Malaysian airline AirAsia X Berhad achieved a revenue of 749.5 million ringgits ($233 million) for the quarter ending 31 March, while carrier cargo services geenrated 25.3 million ringgits throughout.

The cargo revenue is a 27 per cent year-on-year increase from the 19.9 million ringgits it generated in the same quarter last year. The quarter's overall revenue was a leap of 40 per cent, compared to the first three months of 2013.
Also, AirAsia X has 19 Airbus A330-300, up from 15 in December last year. The carrier has ordered 51 Airbus A330-300, with six more being leased from the International Lease Finance Corporation; bringing its fleet deliveries to 57 by 2019. The airline also has 10 Airbus A350 eXtraWideBody on order. Osman-Rani adds: "As new capacity typically takes 12-months to reach break-even, we expect to see yield improvement and an earnings turnaround in the second-half of this year." AirAsia X received one A330-300 on finance lease and two on operating lease in the first quarter.  With thirteen aircraft under operating lease as of 31 March, operating lease expenditure escalated 58.6 per cent year-on-year to 59.9 million ringgits, from 37.8 million during the same period. Due to a one-off investment in its sister airline, Indonesia AirAsia X and one aircraft delivery earlier this year under finance lease, net cash flow reduced to 136.8 million ringgits.

Source :  http://www.aircargoweek.com/news/AirAsia-X-Berhad-sees-40-revenue-jump_5243.html

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