IATA warns of slowing air freight growth in 2008

January 4, 2008 by SwizStick  
Filed under Air Cargo, Airlines, QuickNews

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Via AirCargoNews.net:

“It’s a mixed picture,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and chief executive officer. “The global economy ended 2007 on a surprisingly strong note. The November surge in passenger demand has been critical in combating high oil prices and helping airlines end 2007 with an industry profit of US$5.6 billion – the first since 2000. But against a backdrop of robust world trade, sluggish freight growth continued to be a disappointment.

“We ring in 2008 with a warning bell. Passenger demand growth is expected to fall to 5.0 per cent and the expected increase in freight demand growth to 4.3 per cent will only help us to recover some of the ground lost against sea shipping…

I started with Air Freight in the Logistics industry oh-so-many years ago, so I have a soft spot in my heart for Air Freight, but the vast majority of world trade moves via ocean freight, not Air. With higher fuel surcharges across all modes of transport, it just makes Air Freight that much more expensive. There will always be a need for Air Freight, in fact a growing need, but for the time being it looks like some of the punch has been taken out of Air Freight growth.

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