Comparing July’s figures with 2019, global demand measures in cargo tonne kilometres was up 8.6%, slowing slightly compared to June when demand was up 9.2% compared to 2019.
Export orders on the Purchasing Managers Indices was 52.7, indicating a short-term boost to demand and the inventory-to-sales ratio remains low ahead of the peak year-end retail season.
Capacity is recovering but is 10.3% below July 2019, and load factors were up 9.5 percentage points to 54.4%.
Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA says economic conditions indicate that strong growth will continue, but the Delta variant of Covid-19 could cause issues.
He says: “If supply chains and production lines are disrupted, there is potential for a knock-on effect for air cargo shipments.”
Statistics for Africa were unavailable and Latin American carriers reported international cargo volumes were down 10.2% though routes to elsewhere in the Americas and to Europe performed well.
Demand in Asia-Pacific was up 4.4% with demand being affected by easing momentum and congested supply chains.
North American carriers reported international demand growth of 20.5%, underpinned by new export orders and demand for faster shipping times.
Europe was up 6%, down on June but manufacturing activity, orders and supplier delivery times still proving favourable to air cargo.
The Middle East was up 11.3% with some routes such as trade with Asia proving strong, but this was down on June when growth was 15.8%.