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Customs &
Trade News

July 3, 2012

International air cargo volumes continue downward trend says IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global traffic results for May showing a general downward trend in line with deteriorating global economic conditions.

May freight demand was 1.9% below previous year levels. Compared to April, the freight market contracted by 0.4%. Freight markets hit a low during the fourth quarter of 2011. Since then, they have basically moved sideways with just a 1.5% improvement on that level by May. The freight load factor stood at 45.3%, unchanged from the previous month but 1.2 percentage points below May 2011 levels.

And while passenger demand was 4.5% ahead of levels in May 2011, growth was virtually flat compared to April. Capacity increased by 4.0% and load factors stood at 77.6%, below the historically high levels recorded in April.

European airlines experienced the steepest decline in freight traffic, posting a 5.7% decline compared to a year ago on a 1% rise in capacity.

North American airlines had a 1.9% drop in demand while capacity was trimmed by1.6%. Latin American airlines' demand rose 0.2%, while capacity climbed 0.5%.

Asia-Pacific carriers saw a 4.1% decline in demand in May compared to the previous year, while capacity dipped just 1.7%.

Middle Eastern carriers posted a 12.4% increase in demand, which exceeded an 11.7% rise in capacity. Half of this year's growth in cargo markets has been captured by the Middle East carriers.

Transport &
Trade News