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Air cargo markets stabilise

   The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air freight markets showing that in August freight markets stabilised after two months of decline. Measured in freight tonne kilometres (FTK’s), air cargo volumes rose 0.2 percent compared to the same month a year ago, consistent with developments in world trade activity. This is a modest improvement on July performance when freight demand contracted by 0.6 percent year-over-year. Speaking on the current state of the air cargo market, IATA’s Director General and CEO Tony Tyler, said:

   “After declines in June and July, signs of a stabilisation in air cargo are welcome. But all is not well. Total volumes are down 2 percent compared to the end of 2014. And some of the key reasons for the earlier weakness – for example, downgraded growth expectations in emerging Asia, and the rebalancing of the Chinese economy toward domestic consumption – are still there. Even though world trade volumes have slightly picked up, the industry will have to work hard to match the strong finish to 2014.”

   Airlines in Asia Pacific continue to experience weakness, but declines in volumes eased up a bit as trade to and from emerging Asia stopped shrinking. A slight improvement for European carriers also helped contain further declines in the industry with airlines in the region seeing a small 0.7 percent rise on a year ago. Recent improvements in Eurozone manufacturing business activity could finally be starting to support air freight demand.

   The results varied widely by region with carriers in the Middle East once again reporting the most significant growth at 10.4 percent which globally helped offset some of the decline that North American carriers experienced, down 3.3 percent in August year-on-year. As expected airlines in North America continue to see significant falls in FTK volumes since the boost from modal shift due to sea port congestion earlier in the year.