LONDON – According to data from RadarBox.com, Shanghai Airport’s traffic movements have dropped by nearly 20% as its COVID-19 woes continue.

The country’s mega-draconian measures to deal with the pandemic still are causing major disruption to the infrastructure within the Shanghai area.

Without further ado, let’s get into the numbers!

The Numbers…

Numbers for September 17-24 show that the airport handled 767 movements, which is 18.84% less than the same period last year, of which 945 movements were recorded.

This means that the airport is now a staggering 405 movements from achieving pre-COVID numbers, and is not a strong sign for the airport at all.

Below is a list of the airport’s movements over the last four weeks:

It is key to note that September 17-24 has been a massive improvement compared to September 3-17, but even so, there is a lot of work for the airport to do.

The Cargo Quagmire…

Back in April, AviationSource reported on the current cargo quagmire the airport was facing due to shortages amid the COVID-19 pandemic, especially with diversions.

According to The Loadstar, such diversions from Shanghai Pudong Airport are causing a shortage of pallets for exports.

It is also understood that Zhengzhou Airport has been the hardest hit by these diversions, which has caused significant concern for the airport’s viability of operations.

There has been no improvement surrounding the situation at Pudong at this time, with factories also being closed down due to the lockdowns in the surrounding areas as well.

As long as the lockdown in the Shanghai area continues, these problems will continue to grow.

Global Repercussions…

The likes of Shanghai and other major cargo hubs across China suffering such disruption are going to cause more problems globally down the road.

Thinking away from the aviation sector, a lot of goods do come from the country, which could cause shortages in the global supply chain.

Cargo carriers around the world, such as Lufthansa Cargo, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and others, may have to alter schedules in order to cope with these pressures in China.

With capacity still being limited, this could potentially drive the price of goods upwards in the short-term, which is something not many will want to pay for especially coming out of a pandemic as well.

Overall…

It remains clear that the situation in Shanghai Airport is deteriorating at a rapid rate, irrespective of the increases that are being witnessed at present.

The airport now has to rely on the Chinese Government to relax restrictions within the country to allow any form of recovery to take place in the short term.

But what this will look like, is unknown at this time. The best option the airport can follow at the moment is to brace itself for whatever financial difficulty it will find itself in over the next 12 months.