World air cargo resumes fragile recovery, posting 4pc October uptick
A FOUR per cent improvement in October's global freight tonne kilometres (FTK) has surfaced in monthly statistics from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with growth in all regions except Africa.
Middle East carriers reported a 12.3 per cent FTKs while Europe posted 4.4 per cent growth and North American carriers recorded an uptick of 3.7 per cent in October year on year.
Asia-Pacific carriers grew by a marginal but significant two per cent, arresting a near year-long decline with the region still holding its No 1 position in air freight by market share.
"Since mid-year we have seen modest but sustained growth in cargo fed by stronger business confidence and improving trade flows," said IATA director general Tony Tyler, former CEO of Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways.
"Air cargo is still a very tough business. Matching capacity to demand has been difficult in an environment where passenger traffic is growing more robustly. There is evidence that the fall in load factors has stabilised, but yields remain under pressure," he said.
African carriers experienced the only decline in October - 2.7 per cent - following a slow decline for several months.
Although African trade volumes continued to increase, competition was strong, and demand was weak, coupled with continued capacity expansion putting load factors under greater pressure, falling 3.5 percentage points year on year.
European airlines expanded FTKs by 4.4 per cent, maintaining steady improvement in recent months, as the continent continued to emerge from recession.
North American carriers rebounded from their September contraction to post a solid rise of 3.7 per cent, despite the 17-day federal government shutdown.
After the year-on-year slowdown in September caused by Ramadan, Middle East air cargo growth resumed with capacity matching demand well.
Latin American airlines grew by 1.5 per cent year on year, a slowdown from the 3.6 per cent rate in September. But year-to-date, the 3.6 per cent growth rate remained the second-best of all regions, supported by a 10 per cent increase in regional trade.
