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The global air cargo market showed continued strong annual growth in demand, rising 9.4% year-on-year in September, according to the International Air Transport Association
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Total demand experienced 14 consecutive months of growth
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In terms of cargo ton-kilometers, capacity increased by 6.4% compared to September 2023
The global air cargo demand showed continued strong annual growth in demand, rising 9.4% year-on-year in September, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Measured in cargo ton-kilometers, total demand experienced 14 consecutive months of growth.
In terms of cargo ton-kilometers, capacity increased by 6.4% compared to September 2023 (8.1% for global operations). This continued to be mostly related to the hike in global belly capacity, which rose 10.3%, extending the trend of double-digit annual capacity growth to 41 consecutive months.
IATA director general Willie Walsh in a statement said: “September performance brought continued good news for air cargo markets. With 9.4% year-on-year growth, cargo volumes continued to mark all-time highs for demand. Yields are also improving, up 11.7% on 2023 and 50% above 2019 levels. All this points to a strong finish for this year. For longer-term trends, the air cargo world will be closely following the outcome of the US election for indications of how US trade policy will evolve.”
According to IATA, there are several factors in the operating environment that should be noted.
For one, year-on-year industrial production rose 1.6% while global goods trade went up 2.8% for a sixth consecutive month of growth.
Also, the Purchasing Managers’ Index for global manufacturing output as well as the PMI for new export orders fell below the 50-mark, at 49.4 and 47.5, respectively. This was indicative of a contraction.
Finally, the US headline inflation based on the yearly Consumer Price Index fell by 0.2 percentage points to 2.4% in September. This marked the seventh straight month of easing inflation.
In the EU, inflation rate fell by 0.3 percentage points to 2.1%, while China’s consumer inflation stayed low at 0.4% amid concerns of an economic slowdown.
Overall, the air cargo market had a positive year thus far.
Asia-Pacific airlines saw 11.7% year-on-year demand growth, while capacity rose by 8.5%
North America carriers had a 3.8% year-on-year demand growth for the period, as capacity rose by 4.2% year-on-year.
European carriers saw 11.7% demand growth, while for Middle Eastern carriers it was 10.1%.
Latin American carriers, meanwhile, had 20.9% year-on-year demand growth for September, the strongest among the region. For African airlines, the year-on-year demand growth was the slowest among regions at 1.7%
Global routes had exceptional traffic levels for a fifth month, with a 10.5% year-on-year hike in September.
IATA said airlines are benefitting from rising e-commerce demand in the US and Europe amid current capacity limits in ocean shipping.
