Air cargo recovery continues

September data for global air freight markets released by Iata reveal that air cargo demand, while strengthening, remains depressed compared to 2019 levels.

Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs), was 8% below previous-year levels in September (-9.9% for international operations), which is an improvement on the 12.1% year-on-year drop recorded in August. Month-on-month demand grew by 3.7% in September.

Global capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometres (ACTKs), shrank by 25.2% in September (‑28% for international operations) compared to the previous year. That’s nearly three times larger than the contraction in demand, indicating a severe lack of capacity in the market.

The stats indicate strong regional variations with North American and African carriers reporting year-on-year gains in demand (+1.5% and +9.7% respectively), while all other regions remained in negative territory compared to a year earlier.

There are various reasons for this, among them the World Trade Organization’s revision of its 2020 trade growth forecast from -12.9% to -9.2%.

“Air cargo volumes are down on 2019, but they are a world apart from the extreme difficulties in the passenger business. For air cargo, 92% of the business is still there, whereas about 90% of international passenger traffic has disappeared. Favourable indicators for the peak year-end season will support the continued recovery in demand,” said Alexandre de Juniac, Iata’s director general and CEO.