Air cargo slump continues
IATA just released their international traffic data for April and air cargo continued to show lackluster numbers for the month.
Via IATA.org:
* The sluggish air freight volume growth of 3.7% in April was weaker than the 4.4% average increase recorded during the first quarter reflecting the impact of the economic slowdown.
* The EU-US Open Skies agreement provided a modest boost to US airlines which recorded 6% growth in April due to extra transatlantic capacity.
* Middle Eastern airlines recorded a 15.8% increase in April due to additional capacity and strong trade in the markets they serve.
IATA : “significant drop in cargo growth” for the month of May » 3PL - Third Party Logistics News - 3PL wire on Mon, 7th Jul 2008 4:07 pm
[...] While April was a lackluster month in terms of Air Cargo growth, May was an even worse 1.3%: At 1.3 per cent, cargo demand is considerably down from the 4.3 per cent recorded for the full year 2007. For the first five months of 2008, airfreight volumes were up 2.8 per cent. The biggest cause of the slow growth came from a 0.5 per cent contraction in Asian carrier traffic. This resulted from the impact of the earthquake in China and weakness in the Japanese economy. Asian carriers also saw weakness in transpacific markets with increased competition from US carriers taking advantage of the weak US dollar. [...]