Air Cargo This Week: October 19, 2026
Rates held through the Golden Week lull. WorldACD's global spot average stayed flat at $3.55/kg in week 41 while tonnage slipped 1% for a third straight week, and jet fuel edged up to $192.44 a barrel, about 111% above a year ago on IATA/Platts data. Two policy dates now sit close together: the EU starts its €2 handling fee on November 1, and CBP has pushed its new postal entry requirement to January 20, 2027. DHL Group raised its full-year guidance on preliminary Q3 results.
Fuel
Verified: IATA's Jet Fuel Price Monitor put the global average jet fuel price at $192.44 a barrel last week, ▲up 1.2% from $190.18 the week before (IATA Jet Fuel Price Monitor). WorldACD and TAC, citing IATA/Platts data, put jet fuel about ▲111% above a year earlier (WorldACD week 41, Oct 19; Air Cargo Week, Oct 15). Inference: Fuel remains the largest single cost in air freight, which keeps a floor under rates.
Volume trending
| Source | Period | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| WorldACD | Week 39 (Sep 21 to 27) | Verified: Tonnage ▼down 4% on the week, ▲up 5% on the year |
| WorldACD | Week 40 (Sep 28 to Oct 4) | Verified: Tonnage ▼down 2% on the week, with East Asia holidays |
| WorldACD | Week 41 (Oct 5 to 11) | Verified: Tonnage ▼down 1% on the week, ▲up 9% on the year; Asia Pacific weeks 40 and 41 combined ▼down 7% on the prior two weeks |
| WorldACD | September and Q3 | Verified: September ▲up 3% on August and ▲9% on the year; Q3 ▲up 6% on the year; January to September ▲up 5% on the year |
| Xeneta | September (▬no new reading this week; Oct 1) | Verified: Volumes ▲up 6% on the year, load factor 62% |
| IATA | August (▬no new reading this week; Sep 29) | Verified: Demand (CTK) ▲up 4.4% on the year, load factor 46.0% |
Inference: Three weekly declines in a row look seasonal, because tonnage was still ▲up 9% on the year in week 41. Verified: WorldACD's global spot average was ▬flat at $3.55/kg in week 41, with the full-market average ▬stable at $3.13/kg, ▲up 34% and ▲29% on the year (WorldACD week 41).
Indicative lane pricing
These are indicative spot benchmarks from public sources. Providers measure differently and over different periods, so use them as a guide and get a real quote for your shipment. Blank cells mean the source doesn't publish that figure. Named-lane rows with no new Freightos, Xeneta, or TAC print by October 19 are carried over with their original dates.
| Lane | Latest spot | Change | Year on year | Direction | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| China to North America | Verified: $5.77/kg (week to Oct 13; ▬no new reading) | ▲up 3% | ▲Up WoW | Freightos via AJOT, Oct 13 | |
| China to US (monthly) | Verified: $6.05/kg average spot (September) | ▲up 30% | ▲Up YoY | WorldACD week 40, Oct 12 | |
| Northeast Asia to North America | Verified: $6.03/kg (Sep average; ▬no new reading) | ▲up 5% on August | ▲Up MoM | Xeneta, Oct 1 | |
| China to Europe | Verified: $3.58/kg (week to Oct 13; ▬no new reading) | ▼down 7% | ▼down 9% | ▼Down WoW, ▼down YoY | Freightos via AJOT, Oct 13 |
| Northeast Asia to Europe | Verified: $4.74/kg (Sep average; ▬no new reading) | ▲up 5% on August | ▲Up MoM | Xeneta, Oct 1 | |
| Southeast Asia to North America | Verified: ▲up 40% (Oct 13; ▬no new reading) | ▲Up YoY | Freightos, Oct 13 | ||
| Europe to North America | Verified: $2.18/kg (Northern Europe, week to Oct 13; ▬no new reading) | ▲up 2% | ▲Up WoW | Freightos via AJOT, Oct 13 | |
| Asia Pacific origin, all lanes | Verified: $4.83/kg (week 41) | ▼down 3% | ▼Down WoW | WorldACD week 41, Oct 19 |
Charter market
Focus: Asia Pacific to US charters. Checked Oct 19, 2026 (ET). Labels: Verified = official or company statement; Reported = broker, forwarder or trade-press commentary; Inference = our read. Charter rates and individual flights are mostly unpublished; where a figure is not published it says "not available".
1. Charter rate and availability indications
| Indicator | Reading | Direction | Label | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Published APAC to US full-charter rate (per flight or per kg) | not available | not available | n/a | No public index found |
| 777F ACMI rate, indicative 2026 | $20,000 to $30,000 per block hour (generic guide, not dated to this week) | not available (no prior print) | Reported | ACMIWorld |
| 747-400F / 747-8F ACMI rate, indicative 2026 | $25,000 to $40,000+ per block hour (generic guide) | not available | Reported | ACMIWorld |
| Large widebody (777F class) charter planning band | about $14,500 to $19,500 per block hour before positioning | not available | Reported | Cargo Charter Network |
| Scheduled spot rate, Asia Pacific origins (proxy for charter pressure), wk 41 | $4.83/kg, ▼-3% WoW | ▼down | Verified (WorldACD data) | AJOT / WorldACD wk 41 |
| Capacity from Asia Pacific origins, wk 41 | ▼-3% WoW (holidays) | ▼down | Verified (WorldACD data) | AJOT / WorldACD wk 41 |
| Tonnage from Asia Pacific origins, wk 41 | ▼-1% WoW, third straight small decline | ▼down | Verified (WorldACD data) | AJOT / WorldACD wk 41 |
| APAC to US average rate vs year ago (week ending ~Oct 4) | ▲+38% YoY; ▬flat WoW | ▬flat (WoW) | Verified (WorldACD data) | Air Cargo Week |
| Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore to US tonnage (same week) | ▲+6% to +12% WoW, linked partly to AI traffic | ▲up | Reported | Air Cargo Week |
| APAC to US demand vs last year, mid-September | ▲+17% YoY | ▲up | Reported (C.H. Robinson) | C.H. Robinson Oct 2026 air update |
Commentary:
- Reported: Dimerco's Kenneth Leung expects charter services "to be in demand", especially for Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, with capacity tight from AI, semiconductor and holiday-inventory demand. (Air Cargo News, Oct 7)
- Reported: C.H. Robinson says Asia-origin pricing could firm more noticeably from mid-October on tech-heavy transpacific lanes once factories restart after Golden Week. (C.H. Robinson)
- Reported: Freighters have shifted from Asia-Europe to the transpacific after EU parcel-rule tightening, easing some strain. (Air Cargo News)
- Inference: Charter availability out of Asia was likely looser in weeks 40 to 41 (holiday capacity and volume dips), and should tighten from week 42 as Asian capacity returns and peak plus AI demand stack up. Direction for next week: ▲up (inference only).
2. ACMI and full-charter / dedicated-freighter demand
| Item | Detail | Label | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| NX Group + JAL 747F circuit | LAX-NRT-TPE-SIN-NRT-LAX, weekly, first departure Oct 3, 2026; 747F secured by JAL "through cooperation with its partners"; ~100 t payload; aimed at server racks and data center equipment | Verified | NX press release, Oct 1 |
| CEVA dedicated freighter | 3x weekly Hanoi to Chicago since June, Boeing 777-200F from CMA CGM | Reported | Air Cargo News |
| DHL GF "TransPac Connect" | Since July; Bangkok to Cincinnati 3x weekly plus Hanoi and Taipei to US gateways; high-value and oversized cargo | Reported | Air Cargo News |
| Number of ad hoc APAC-US charters this week | not available | n/a | n/a |
| ACMI contracts signed this week, APAC-US | not available | n/a | n/a |
- Inference: Large forwarders are locking capacity through dedicated or ACMI-style programs rather than spot ad hoc charters, which reduces ad hoc availability heading into peak. Direction of dedicated capacity: ▲up.
3. Freighter types in use (named in reporting)
- Boeing 747F (NX/JAL circuit, ~100 t). Verified (NX)
- Boeing 777-200F (CEVA / CMA CGM, Hanoi-Chicago). Reported (Air Cargo News)
- Reported (broker guide): 777F is usually the better cost option for volumetric tech cargo; 747F chosen when height, length or cube forces it. (Aviall)
4. Operators and brokers named
- Operators/carriers: Japan Airlines, CMA CGM (Air Cargo), DHL Global Forwarding (controlled capacity).
- Forwarders: Nippon Express (NX), CEVA Logistics, DHL GF, Dimerco, C.H. Robinson, Omni Logistics.
- Charter brokers with public APAC/AI commentary: Chapman Freeborn (Reported: AI server racks and data center infrastructure now a major charter driver from Asia to North America; Chapman Freeborn, interview undated on page).
- Named charter brokers active on specific APAC-US flights this week: not available.
5. Data center freight charters
| Route | Aircraft | Cargo | Customer | Date | Label | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan (Taipei FTZ) to US data centers | "Multiple chartered freighters", type not available | GPU racks, $100M+ deployment | Unnamed "AI neocloud" operator | not available (case study) | Reported (Omni marketing case study) | Omni Logistics |
| LAX-NRT-TPE-SIN-NRT-LAX (scheduled circuit, not ad hoc charter) | 747F | Server racks, data center equipment targeted | Not named | Weekly from Oct 3, 2026 | Verified | NX |
- No publicly reported ad hoc APAC-to-US charter carrying AI servers, GPUs, switchgear, transformers, gensets, cooling or batteries was found dated this week. Route, aircraft, cargo and customer for this week: not available.
- Reported: Singapore and Malaysia play significant roles in server-rack assembly; Vietnam and Thailand emerging for tech components (DHL GF's Fabio Weiss). (Air Cargo News)
- Inference: Data center charter demand from Taiwan and Southeast Asia to the US is ▲up, but individual flights are rarely disclosed; expect case studies to lag by months.
Gaps
- No public APAC-US charter rate index; ACMI ranges are generic 2026 guides with no WoW direction.
- No dated ad hoc data center charter flights for the week; Omni case study is undated and customer unnamed.
- No India-origin or Korea-specific charter data found.
E-commerce trending
Inference: Direct parcel flows into the EU are under pressure as platforms shift toward bulk shipments and local warehouses, while China's cross-border e-commerce trade is still growing at low single digits. Verified: China's customs agency estimated cross-border e-commerce trade at about 2.18 trillion yuan for the first three quarters, ▲up 4.4% on the year, with exports of about 1.75 trillion yuan, ▲up 4.6% (Ebrun, Oct 18). The Loadstar calculates that once the €2 Union handling fee starts on November 1, a parcel with three product categories would carry €15 in charges before transport, clearance, and VAT (The Loadstar, Oct 19). TikTok Shop's fulfilment arm has reportedly leased a warehouse of about 250,000 sq ft in Rugby, UK, and Shein dropped UniUni as a US carrier option for semi-managed sellers from October 12 (Ebrun, Oct 18).
Verified: On the US side, CBP on October 14 extended mandatory use of Entry Type 13 for international mail subject to Section 201, 232, or 301 duties from October 22, 2026, to January 20, 2027 (CBP, Oct 14). Comments on CBP's "Low-Value Shipments" proposal (docket USCBP-2026-0298) still close December 7, 2026 (Federal Register).
Industry news
- Verified: DHL Group raised its 2026 EBIT guidance to more than €7.0bn from more than €6.5bn. Preliminary Q3 EBIT was about €1.71bn, up 16%, on revenue of about €22.6bn, up 12%. DHL Express EBIT rose to about €1,035m from €692m, helped by about €100m from air freight capacity constraints (The Loadstar, Oct 19). Kuehne+Nagel and DSV report this week.
- Verified: Portugal chose Lufthansa to buy up to 49.9% of TAP Air Portugal. The government said Lufthansa's offer was 16% higher than Air France-KLM's (Air Cargo Week, Oct 15).
- Verified: UPS opened a 30,000 sq m hub at Clark International Airport in the Philippines, 15 times the size of the old one, with average daily volume of 46,000 packages (Air Cargo News, Oct 16).
- Verified: Schiphol's September cargo ▲rose 7.6% to 127,750 tonnes. Changi handled about 191,000 tonnes in September, ▲up 9.7% (Air Cargo News, Oct 19; Changi Airport Group).
- Verified: The US Department of Transportation lifted restrictions on Mexican airlines adding US flights from Mexico City's AIFA and MEX airports (Air Cargo News, Oct 19).
- Verified: China to Europe freighter capacity was ▼down 20% on the year between September 18 and October 18, then ▲rebounded 27% last week after Golden Week and was still ▼24% below the same week last year (The Loadstar, Oct 19).
- Verified: Worldwide capacity ▼fell 1% week on week for a second week in WorldACD's week 41 reading, with Gulf capacity ▼20% below its late-February level after attacks on Saudi airports (WorldACD week 41).
What it means if you ship pallets and crates
Inference: Expect firm pricing through peak while jet fuel stays near twice last year's level, and quote early for anything that has to move before December. Watch WorldACD week 42 as Asia Pacific capacity returns: if the global spot holds near $3.55/kg, fuel and AI inbound are setting the floor. China to Europe remains the softer lane into Q4 as the €2 fee lands on November 1. Verified: If your US-bound postal or low-value entries are affected, note the CBP mail deadline move to January 20, 2027, and the open comment period on the low-value rule through December 7.
See this week's benchmark rates at /rates, or send a $99 Founding Shipper booking request and we'll book your freight at the carrier's price with no markup.