The airfreight industry is continuing its upward trajectory with industry-wide freight tonne kilometres (FTK) growing by 2.3% year-on-year in August – an unchanged pace from July, according to the latest statistics released by the International Air Transport Association.
Freight volumes are currently trending upwards at a 4% annualised rate, helped by strong levels of consumer confidence and an ongoing upturn in the global investment cycle. Nonetheless, other demand drivers have become more mixed since the start of 2018, particularly the health of manufacturer firms’ export order books, according to Iata.
Commenting on the pick-up in trade tensions and protectionist measures, a spokesman estimated that the direct impact on air freight from the initial tariffs would be relatively small.
Airlines based in Europe posted the fastest annual growth in international FTKs for the first time since October 2016 (3.6%), despite signs of increasing weakness in European manufacturers’ export order books – particularly Germany.
African airlines however fared poorly, remaining in negative territory in August for the fifth time in six months (-7.1%). “Demand conditions remain weak on all the key markets to/from the continent,” according to the report.
