The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released data for May 2023 global air cargo markets showing weak market conditions.
The association said in a release in Geneva, Switzerland that African carriers in particular, saw a 2.4 per cent drop in air cargo demand in May against global weak demand.
It stated that it was a decline in performance compared to the previous month which was -0.9 per cent.
OATA explained that the growth on the Africa to Asia trade route slowed significantly in May from 18.5 per cent in April to 11.0 per cent, possibly due to the impact of the conflict in Sudan since mid-April.
“Capacity in May was up 9.2 compared to the same month in 2022,” the association stated.
For Asia-Pacific airlines, IATA said their air cargo volumes decrease by 3.3 per cent during the period in review compared to the same month in 2022.
It said decline was in performance compared to -0.3 per cent in April, mainly due to the stronger annual contraction in international air cargo demand from -3.5 per cent in April to -6.4 per cent in July.
Available capacity in the region increased by 38.3 per cent compared to May 2022 as more belly capacity came online from the passenger side of the business.
North American carriers saw the weakest performance of all regions for the third consecutive month with an 8.1 per cent decrease in cargo volumes in May 2023 compared to the same month in 2022.
However, IATA said the decrease was a slight improvement in performance compared to -12.4 per cent reported in Aril.
Notably, airlines in the region saw the third month of double-digit contractions in volumes on the North America-Europe trade lane (-10.3 per cent) while capacity increased 1.2 per cent compared to May 2022.
For the European carriers, the global airlines’ association said they experienced a 6.7 per cent decrease in cargo volumes in May 2023, compared to the same month in 2022.
The performance was an improvement compared to -7.7 per cent recorded in April, due in part to the smaller annual contraction in international cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs) on the Europe-Middle East trade lane, from -4.7 per cent in April to -2.9 per cent in May.
Middle Eastern carriers experienced a 3.1 per cent year-on-year decrease in cargo volumes in May 2023.
This was a slight improvement in performance compared to the previous month at -6.7 per cent, while capacity increased 15.6 per cent compared to May 2022.
Latin American carriers had the only positive performance in May 2023 posting a 3.6 per cent increase in cargo volumes compared to May 2022.
That was an improvement in performance compared to -1.6 per cent in April.
Capacity in May was up 14.7 per cent compared to the same month in 2022.
On the whole, IATA stated that the global demand, measured in CTKs), fell 5.2 per cent compared to -6.0 per cent for international operations.
Capacity, as measured by available cargo tonne-kilometres (ACTKs), according to IATA, rose 14.5 per cent compared to May 2022.
It explained that the increase was primarily driven by belly capacity which increases as demand in the passenger business recovers.
“Capacity is now 5.9 per cent above May 2019 (pre-pandemic) levels,” it said.
“Trading conditions for air cargo continue to be challenging with a 5.2 per cent fall in demand and several economic indicators pointing towards weakness. The second half of the year, however, should bring some improvements.
“As inflation moderates in many markets, it is widely expected that central bank rate hikes will taper. This should help stimulate economic activity with a positive impact on demand for air cargo,” the director general of IATA, Mr. Willie Walsh remarked.
