Global airfreight is projected to grow at a significantly slower pace in 2018 compared to the previous year despite a modest upward trend in demand after a weak start to the year.
This according to the International Air Transport Association’s (Iata) latest data for global airfreight markets, released yesterday, which showed that demand had grown 4.2% and capacity 6.2% in May 2018 compared to the same period in 2017.
Iata identified three reasons for the projected downward trend - the fact that the re-stocking cycle was over, that the new export orders component of the global Purchasing Managers’ Index was at a 21-month low, and that global trade appeared to be softening as trade tensions increased.
“Headwinds are strengthening with growing friction among governments on trade,” said Iata director general and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac. “We still expect demand to grow, but those expectations are dampened with each new tariff introduced.”
Additionally, African carriers saw freight demand contract by 2% and capacity increase by 20.4% in May compared to the same period last year. This mainly reflected a softening in demand in markets to and/or from Asia and the Middle East.
