According to IATA’s June air freight market analysis, global air freight markets registered a combined 4.1% increase in volume compared with the same period in 2013. The mid-year growth rate is “well above the 1.4% growth in 2013 overall,” IATA said. At this point in 2013, the air freight market year-to-date growth over the previous year stood at just 0.1%.
IATA also said: “Current freight tonne-kilometer levels are the highest they have been since mid-2010. Demand conditions throughout 2014 have been strong enough to support these improved FTK levels.”
The report also showed that sustained acceleration in growth has been absent in recent months. Freight volume growth has fluctuated: January’s total market FTK year-over-year growth was 4.5%; February’s was 2.9%; March’s 5.9%; April’s 3.2%; May’s 4.7%.
Total market AFTK capacity increased 2.6% year-on-year, resulting in a global freight load factor of 44.9% for the month, down 0.2 points from May.
IATA DG and CEO Tony Tyler said: “At the half-way point of the year, it is clear that overall cargo demand is much stronger than in 2013. Asia-Pacific and the Middle East have been the biggest beneficiaries of the improved market conditions.”
Tyler added: “[But] this may not, however, be a recovery as usual. There are a lot of risks out there from conflicts and sanctions to potential national defaults and fear of the Ebola outbreak.”
IATA reports H1 global air freight volumes
