Global air freight markets for February 2017 recorded an 8.4% increase in demand measured in freight tonne kilometres (FTKs) compared to the same period last year, according to stats released today by the International Air Transport Association (Iata).
After adjusting for the impact of the leap year in 2016, demand increased by 12% -- almost four times better than the five-year average rate of 3.0%.
Freight capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometres (AFTKs), shrank by 0.4%.
The continued growth of air freight demand in 2017 is consistent with an uptick in world trade which corresponds with new global export orders remaining at elevated levels in March. Of particular note is the expanded volume of semi-conductor materials typically used in high-value consumer electronics, according to Iata.
From a regional perspective, African carriers saw freight demand increase by 10.6% (or more than 14% adjusting for the leap year) in February and capacity increase by 1.0%. Year-to-date demand has increased by 16.2%, helped by very strong growth on the trade lanes to and from Asia, Iata reports. “The increase in demand has helped the region’s seasonally adjusted load factor rise by 2.8 percentage points so far in 2017.”
