IATA: Air cargo demand registers slight decline in February

The latest supply and demand statistics from IATA show that air cargo demand decreased by 0.1% in cargo tonne km (CTK) terms in February,  its first year-on-year decline in February since March 2023 as a result of “extraordinary” growth a year ago.

This makes interesting reading for the U-Freight Group, with our strong presence in the expedited international airfreight business., and we note that it wasn’t all bad news for the industry as the cargo load factor actually improved by 0.1 percentage points compared with a year ago to 45% due to a 0.4% decline in capacity supply.

IATA said that the demand decline was the result of a spike in air cargo volumes in February last year caused by a number of factors.

“February saw a small contraction in air cargo demand, the first year-on-year decline since mid-2023,” said IATA director general Willie Walsh.

“Much of this is explained by February 2024 being extraordinary — a leap year that was also boosted by Chinese New Year traffic, sea lane closures and a boom in e-commerce.

“Rising trade tensions are, of course, a concern for air cargo. With equity markets already showing their discomfort, we urge governments to focus on dialogue over tariffs.”

IATA added that if February’s figures were adjusted for seasonality – for example, the extra day in February last year – demand would have actually increased by 3% for the month.

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