In its latest quarterly cargo market analysis, the International Air Transport Association(IATA) reports that year-on-year growth in air freight tonne kilometres (FTKs) slowed to 4.0% in the three months ended April, with freight volumes now having broadly tracked sideways in seasonally adjusted (SA) terms over the past six months.
IATA states that the best of the upturn in air freight demand is “now well behind us, and it is important to note that wider momentum in world trade also looks to be slowing in the face of a pick-up in protectionist measures”. The report adds that strong consumer confidence and bottlenecks in global supply chains should continue to lend support to air freight demand in the near term, but warns that current business surveys point to annual FTK growth slowing further in Q3 2018.
The upward trend in cargo yields has moderated since the start of the year. However, the ongoing increase in daily freighter aircraft utilisation should help to reduce average costs and to partly offset the impact of rising fuel prices, it says.