Global trade has stayed resilient despite tariff wars, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, hostilities in West Asia and tightening sanctions. Air cargo has been the rapid-response enabler, rerouting goods, meeting tariff deadlines and absorbing demand spikes that surface freight can't. Yet beneath Asia-Pacific's headline growth, demand patterns vary sharply by route.

In this panel at air cargo Shanghai, China's biennial trade exhibition and conference, Reji John, Editor, The STAT Trade Times, moderates a discussion with Asok Kumar, Group CEO, Expolanka Group and Global CEO, Morrison Express; Jannie Davel, CEO, MSC Air Cargo; Joanna Li, Executive Director, Commercial and Business Development, Hactl; and Stanislas Brun, Chief Cargo Officer, Etihad Airways.

The panel looks at how carriers and forwarders have become first responders to trade disruption, and how the industry can separate structural growth from the short-cycle surges created by tariff pauses and front-loading. It explores fast-growing China-Middle East and China-Africa corridors, with Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and the Gulf as connective hubs, and the tailwind from high-value cargo such as AI servers, semiconductors and pharma. The speakers also address rising MRO costs, freighter delivery delays and crew and slot constraints, the growing role of sanctions compliance as a commercial differentiator, hub strategies in Hong Kong, the Gulf and Taipei, and how forwarders and carriers share risk when trade lanes shift overnight.

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