Aviation Week's Window Seat Podcast
Aug 6, 2026 · 32 min · 9 segments
Wong Hong, who heads up the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, talks about industry optimism despite challenges.
Wong HongGuestKaren WalkerHostUm, but of course, it makes it even more, uh, complicated m- for an airline to know where to reduce capacity and, and where to, uh, to make sure that you can still deliver.
What about the cargo side? That's a very important part of, um, the Asia Pacific- Well, a-a-across all of the Asia Pacific airlines, it's a very, very key part.
Actually, cargo's, um, results have been, uh, actually m-more impressive, I would say.
Uh, some of the figures that are, we're, we're, we're seeing that are coming in are still showing, uh, good growth, uh, momentum.
And I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that, I think, the, the manufacturing, um, industries and, uh, the semiconductor has led the way despite, you know, despite tariffs, you know, that are still ongoing, you know, uh, imposed from the US, uh, mostly from the US.
And, uh, I think the supply chain for production and manufacturing for factories, they found a solution, I would like to say.
You know, I think this year you start to see that, you know, there are different patterns, different routes that are being established by and large.
And despite, you know, some of this heightened, uh, tariffs, um, they found solutions and ways to overcome.
And today, I think we are in a fairly decent, uh, position, uh, with, you know, solid single-digit growth, uh, figures over last year.
So, you know, I think we're looking at latest, uh, numbers for the first time were 7%.
So that's, that's pretty healthy, I would say, and I, we hope that will, uh, continue in the second half of the year.
Yeah, that's interesting because it's, um, rather like COVID, it's sort of w-what's helped the airlines to have some resilience.
Um, but of course, it makes it even more, uh, complicated m- for an airline to know where to reduce capacity and, and where to, uh, to make sure that you can still deliver.
What about the cargo side? That's a very important part of, um, the Asia Pacific- Well, a-a-across all of the Asia Pacific airlines, it's a very, very key part.
Actually, cargo's, um, results have been, uh, actually m-more impressive, I would say.
Uh, some of the figures that are, we're, we're, we're seeing that are coming in are still showing, uh, good growth, uh, momentum.
And I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that, I think, the, the manufacturing, um, industries and, uh, the semiconductor has led the way despite, you know, despite tariffs, you know, that are still ongoing, you know, uh, imposed from the US, uh, mostly from the US.
And, uh, I think the supply chain for production and manufacturing for factories, they found a solution, I would like to say.
You know, I think this year you start to see that, you know, there are different patterns, different routes that are being established by and large.
And despite, you know, some of this heightened, uh, tariffs, um, they found solutions and ways to overcome.
And today, I think we are in a fairly decent, uh, position, uh, with, you know, solid single-digit growth, uh, figures over last year.
So, you know, I think we're looking at latest, uh, numbers for the first time were 7%.
So that's, that's pretty healthy, I would say, and I, we hope that will, uh, continue in the second half of the year.
Yeah, that's interesting because it's, um, rather like COVID, it's sort of w-what's helped the airlines to have some resilience.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
