Michael Steen was a featured guest on Bloomberg Asia this week while in Hong Kong for the World Cargo Symposium, IATA’s largest event ever with 1,900 executives in attendance. Michael spoke with Bloomberg News reporters Annabelle Droulers and Haidi Stroud-Watts live from the Bloomberg studio for this robust interview about the recovery of air freight. See full interview here.
Michael provided expert commentary on macro environment topics ranging from air freight market growth, rise in cross-border eCommerce, and supply chain disruptions (Suez Canal). Throughout the interview, Michael delivered excellent message points about Atlas, including our robust customer mix, diversified business model, joint ventures with DHL (Polar) and Bain (Titan), fleet strategy and general growth plans.
Michael noted that “after a very turbulent 2023 when demand dropped significantly, the market has bounced back, and we’re basically year over year 20% better.”
Driving the demand, according to Michael, is the structural change in demand with e-commerce – the shift from B2B to B2C. And particularly in China.
“China itself represents about 30% of global air freight, so that shows the importance that China has on the global economy.”
Michael also addressed questions on the impact of geopolitical tensions. He explained that with operations in around the world, there will always be some kind of disruptions to navigate yet Atlas has remained resilient and well-positioned due to diversification – both geographically and service-wise.
Michael also spoke with Bloomberg’s print editor Danny Lee, and that coverage can be found here. (Bloomberg subscription needed to access article)
Michael also participated in the executive roundtable featured at the Symposium’s opening plenary. See here for coverage from Air Cargo News on that panel.
The World Cargo Symposium has provided the ideal platform to share our Atlas story and build our reputation as a leader in outsourced aviation logistics, with both the industry audience as well as the broader global audience.
For more information about Atlas Air Worldwide, visit www.atlasairworldwide.com.
