Global Air Cargo – “The Worst is Yet to Come”
IATA recently released their global air traffic results for the month of October and the news is not pretty. International air traffic showed a second month in a row of global traffic decline. Passenger traffic was down 1.3 percent compared to same month last year and global air cargo was down 7.9 percent.
I found it interesting to note that Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO, said that “the deepening slump in cargo markets is a clear indication that the worst is yet to come”. Not exactly great news for both members of the airline and freight fowarding industries.
Here are the highlights (or lowlights) from IATA’s official press release:
The 7.9% decline in air freight during October has dragged year-to-date air freight volume to 0.8% below the same period in 2007. Forecasted declines in key air cargo sectors such as semi-conductors indicate that weakness is expected to continue.
Asia-Pacific carriers, which account for 44.7% of the international cargo market, saw international freight traffic decline by 11.0%, reflecting the sharp drop in the region’s exports.
North American and European carriers saw less precipitous declines of 7.6% and 5.4% respectively.
In sharp contrast to passenger performance, African carriers saw a 3.0% improvement in cargo during October. This reflects trade growth within Africa.
Latin American carriers saw the largest decline (11.4%).
Middle Eastern carriers were the only others to report growth (1.0%) in October.
I know we have a lot of readers who work for small to midsize air freight forwarders. Drop us a line and let us know how the current global cargo contraction is affecting your business.
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