The slowdown in world trade growth resulted in a 3.2 per cent year-on-year fall in air cargotraffic worldwide in July, with weaker business in all regions apart from the Middle East, and
halting a brief recovery seen in June, according to the latest monthly figures from theInternational Air Transport Association (IATA).A large part of the 3.2 per cent drop in freight demand last month was due to comparison witha relatively strong July last year, but overall the trend in air freight is weak, in line withsubdued world trade growth, the international airline association said. In June, air freight grew0.8 per cent year-on-year, raising hopes of a slight recovery despite the weak world economy. Overthe first seven months of the year, worldwide air cargo traffic declined 2.4 per cent, on ayear-on-year basis.
International traffic dropped 3.3 per cent last month and is down by 2.8 per centyear-on-year from January to July 2012. Domestic traffic declined 2.4 per cent in July but is stillpositive over the first seven months with a slight 0.6 per cent increase.
The success story last month was the continued growth of Middle East carriers who recorded a16 per cent increase in demand year-on-year on an 11 per cent boost in capacity, helping raisetheir load factors by 2 percentage points to 45.3 per cent. The region’s fast-expanding airlineshave increased freight traffic by about 15 per cent so far this year and have increased theirinternational market share to 13.8 per cent.
In contrast, airlines in Asia suffered from the slowdown in air cargo exports from theregion, especially China. Their air cargo traffic dropped 7.6 per cent last month, leaving it 6.8per cent lower over the first seven months of the year. Asia-Pacific carriers have experiencedvirtually no growth in freight traffic since the fourth quarter of 2011, IATA noted.
In Europe, airlines saw freight demand decline by 3.6 per cent in July, taking theyear-to-date decline to 3.9 per cent. Europe’s airlines have seen only a 1 per cent rise in demandsince the 2011 fourth quarter.
North American carriers also had a 3.6 per cent decrease last month but their traffic is only1.1 per cent lower over the first seven months of this year. In Latin America, carriers suffered a5.6 per cent fall in cargo traffic in July and had a moderate 1.2 per cent decline over the firstseven months.
“The uncertain economic outlook is having a negative impact on demand for air transport,”said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO. “The cargo business is 3.2 per cent smaller thanit was a year ago. And passenger markets—with the exception of Africa, China-domestic and theMiddle East—saw demand fall from June to July. Overall passenger demand is still up 3.4 per cent onthe previous July. But the growth trend is clearly slowing. This, along with rising fuel prices islikely to make it a tough second half of the year.”
