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Hong Kong’s airport authority, airlines to offer discounts on cargo charges to boost trade at world’s busiest freight hub
- Freight shipments have taken a hit from the US-China trade war
- Cathay Pacific will offer customers a discount of 30 HK cents per kilogram on cargo
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Hong Kong is offering cargo exporters discounts to prop up trade and the world’s busiest cargo airport, as freight shipments take a hit from the long-running US-China trade war.
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The Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) has teamed up with airlines to offer concessions for cargo that passes through the city’s international airport, which will kick in from April 1, 2020.
Cathay Pacific, which runs its own dedicated cargo terminal in Hong Kong and is a driving force behind the scheme, said it would offer customers a discount of 30 HK cents per kilogram on general and special cargo, in the first such offer. It would amount to a discount of between 18 and 20 per cent compared with current charge levels.
Under the scheme, the AAHK will contribute 20 per cent of the terminal charge concession amount offered by an airline to freight forwarders for export cargo, subject to agreement between the authority and individual airlines.
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Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong’s largest airline, did not allude to the effects of the trade-tariff spat it had been caught up in this time round – unlike during its monthly traffic reports – but stated that it introduced concessions to defend the competitiveness of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA).
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