With our strong presence in the expedited international airfreight business, the U-Freight Group notes that IATA reports that global air cargo markets experienced a significant 9.4% growth in demand for September 2024 compared to the same month in 2023. This marks the 14th consecutive month of growth, with international operations seeing a 10.5% increase.
Capacity rose by 6.4% year-on-year, with international belly capacity increasing by 10.3%. This extension of double-digit annual capacity growth has now continued for 41 consecutive months.
Several factors have influenced the operating environment: year-on-year industrial production increased by 1.6%, and global goods trade grew by 2.8% for the sixth consecutive month. The Purchasing Managers Index for global manufacturing output and new export orders indicated contraction with scores of 49.4 and 47.5, respectively.
Inflation rates have shown signs of easing. In the US, headline inflation based on the annual Consumer Price Index declined by 0.2 percentage points to 2.4% in September, marking the seventh consecutive month of easing. In the EU, the inflation rate fell by 0.3 percentage points to 2.1%, and in China, consumer inflation remained low at 0.4%.
Regional performance varied, with Asia-Pacific airlines experiencing an 11.7% increase in demand, while African airlines saw the slowest growth at 1.7%. North American carriers reported a 3.8% growth in demand, European carriers 11.7%, Middle Eastern carriers 10.1%, and Latin American carriers led with a 20.9% increase.
International routes experienced exceptional traffic levels for a fifth month, with a 10.5% year-on-year increase in September. Airlines are benefiting from rising e-commerce demand in the US and Europe amid ongoing capacity limits in ocean shipping.
Total cargo traffic market share by region of carriers is Asia-Pacific 33.3%, Europe 21.4%, North America 26.9%, Middle East 13.5%, Latin America 2.8%, and Africa 2.0%.
Trade lane market share is calculated based on 2023 full-year CTK data and includes all directions of transport and breaks down as follows: Asia-North America 25.0%, Asia-Europe 19.4%, North America-Europe 14.3%, Middle East-Asia 7.2%, Within Asia 6.7%, Middle East-Europe 5.0%, Within Europe 1.9%, Africa-Asia 1.2%. In total, these selected trade lanes cover 80.7% of 2023 global air cargo traffic.
For more information about the U-Freight Group's global air freight forwarding and logistics services, or our e-commerce logistics operations, please visit the relevant pages of this website or contact your local office, details of which can be seen here:
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