The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data regarding annual global air cargo markets.
This data paints a positive picture, showing strong annual growth in demand.
“September performance brought continued good news for air cargo markets. With 9.4% year-on-year growth, cargo volumes continued to mark all-time highs for demand. said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
AIR CARGO IN AFRICA
Although lagging behind the rest of the world, there were some positives for Africa.
During September, African airlines saw 1.7% year-on-year demand growth for air cargo.
But, that said, growth for Africa is the slowest among all regions.
Though capacity increased by 13.9% year-on-year, cargo load factor fell by 4.7 percentage points to 39.2%.
This means that less than 40% of the available cargo space was used by the market.
However, it must be remembered that Africa accounts for 2.0% of the global air cargo market.
That said, air cargo from Africa-Asia grew for the 13th consecutive month.
AIR CARGO DEMAND AND CAPACITY
Total demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs), rose by 9.4% compared to September 2023 levels (10.5% for international operations) for a 14th consecutive month of growth.
Capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometers (ACTKs), increased by 6.4% compared to September 2023 (8.1% for international operations).
This continued to be largely related to the growth in international belly capacity, which rose 10.3%–extending the trend of double-digit annual capacity growth to 41 consecutive months.
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INCREASED CARGO YIELDS
Air cargo yields also showed an improvement for September 2024.
“Yields are also improving, up 11.7% on 2023 and 50% above 2019 levels. All this points to a strong finish for this year. For longer-term trends, the air cargo world will be closely following the outcome of the US election for indications of how US trade policy will evolve,” Walsh said.
IMPACTING CARGO OPERATIONS
Several factors impacting the operating environment should be highlighted. These include:
• Year-on-year, industrial production rose 1.6% while global goods trade increased 2.8% for a sixth consecutive month of growth. Monthly trade grew by 1.4%, the highest in seven months.
• The Purchasing Managers Index (PMIs) for global manufacturing output, and the PMI for new export orders, were both below the 50-mark at 49.4 and 47.5 respectively, indicating contraction.
• US headline inflation, based on the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI), declined by 0.2 percentage points to 2.4% in September, marking the seventh straight month of easing inflation. In the same month, inflation in the EU fell by 0.3 percentage points to 2.1%, continuing a process that started last January. China’s consumer inflation remained low at 0.4% in September amid concerns of an economic slowdown.
