The drop in worldwide air cargo volumes appears to have flattened out but the market remains downby about 20% so far this year, according to new figures from the world’s leading airports.
Air freight volumes handled at 136 major airports around the world were down 19.5% inFebruary on a year-on-year basis, the monthly traffic report from international airportsassociation Airports Council International (ACI) showed. This left volumes down 20.6% over thefirst two months of 2009, measured in metric tonnes.
International freight volumes dropped 23.5% in February and are down by 25% over the firsttwo months of the year. Domestic freight has declined somewhat more moderately, showing a 12.4%fall last month and 13.7% drop over the first two months.
More positively, however, the overall February decline of 19.5% was less than in January(-22.2%) and closer to the December drop (-18.4%). The February figure is the first time since July2008 that a monthly percentage drop is slightly less than the preceding month. From July 2008 toJanuary 2009, each successive month showed a worse percentage fall.
The ACI figures are in line with the latest international airline traffic data from IATA.These showed a 22.1% drop in international freight volumes in February following a 23.2% decreasein January and a 22.6% drop in December. These figures from the two organisations indicate that thedramatic fall in freight traffic may have bottomed out, as FedEx CEO Fred Smith recently suggested.
In Asia, overall air freight volumes at 30 leading airports dropped 17.1% last month and aredown by 22.7% over the first two months of the year. International volumes were down 23.4% inFebruary compared to -30.1% in January, leaving the two-month figure at -27.3%. Domestic airfreight in Asia actually rose 3.7% last month following a 30% slump in January.
In Europe, overall air freight at 29 major airports was down by 22.7% last month and by 22.4%over the first two months of 2009. International volumes were down by 25.1% in February and by24.5% in January-February.
In North America, overall volumes at 33 leading airports dropped 21.2% in February and aredown 19.1% over the first two months. International freight was down by 27.6% last month and by27.1% over the first two months. Domestic volumes were 18.1% lower in February and are 15.3% downover the January-February period.
