Strong air cargo market continues as world business activity grows

GENEVA - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released October data for global air freight markets showing that the strong performance of recent months is continuing. Demand, measured in freight tonne kilometres (FTK), rose 5.4% in October compared to October 2013, out-stripping new capacity, which grew by 4.4%.

Compared to September, demand grew by 0.7% bringing freight volumes to a new record monthly high.
IATA said the results reflect improvements in world trade and business activity which have been evident since the (northern) summer. World trade is growing steadily, supporting increased air cargo shipments.
Regional differentiation in performance, however, is very apparent. IATA said carriers in the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific saw demand grow faster than the global trend, while North America, Europe and Latin America grew more slowly. More significantly, however, carriers in all regions except Europe improved on their year-to-date performance.
Cargo demand for European carriers grew by a weak 1.4% compared to the previous October, reflecting economic uncertainty and the impact of sanctions as a result of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
“We are now back to levels of demand not seen since the 2010 post-recession bounce-back,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO. www.iata.org (ATI).