Global air freight market data, released by the International Air Transport Association (Iata) this week, showed a continued slowdown in air cargo growth in June this year.
Air freight demand in the first half of 2018 was 4.7% lower than the growth rate in the first half of 2017, while demand rose by 2.7% in June 2018 compared to the same period in 2017.
Meanwhile capacity growth has outstripped demand in every month since March with growth of 4.1% in freight capacity in June this year compared to the same month last year.
African carriers saw an 8.5% contraction in freight demand along with a 1.4% fall in capacity as demand conditions remained weak on all markets to and from the continent.
“We still expect about 4% growth over the course of the year, but the deterioration in world trade is a real concern,” said Iata director general and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac. “While air cargo is somewhat insulated from the current round of rising tariff barriers, an escalation of trade tension resulting in a ‘reshoring’ of production and consolidation of global supply chains will change the outlook significantly for the worse.”
