Pictured: Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA
IATA reports that demand measured in cargo tonne kilometres (CTK) was up 13.4% on the first six months of last year, putting it at the same level as 2021 helped by ongoing maritime disruption and booming e-commerce demand.
Demand was up 14.1% in June, the seventh consecutive month of double-digit growth, and international operations were up 15.6%.
Capacity continues to rise, up 8.8% measures in available CTK (ACTK) compared to June 2023 and 10.8% for international operations.
Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA says strong growth across all regions and major trade lanes contributed to a record-breaking first-half performance measured in CTK.
He says, “Maritime shipping constraints and a booming e-commerce sector are among the strongest growth drivers. Meanwhile, the sector has remained largely impervious to ongoing political and economic challenges, and the US customs crackdown on e-commerce deliveries from China. Air cargo looks to be on solid ground to continue its strong performance into the second half of 2024.”
In June, the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for global manufacturing output indicated expansion at 52.3 while the new export orders PMI registered a small contraction at 49.3.
Global cross-border trade expanded 0.1% month-on-month in May and industrial production stayed level compared to the previous month.
Inflation was mixed in June with the European Union and Japan staying level at 2.6% and 2.8% respectively and the US dropping to 3%.
China’s inflation remained low at 0.3% due to weak domestic demand amid high unemployment, slow income growth and a crisis in the real estate sector, which has been a trend since last year.
By region, Asia-Pacific airlines had the strongest growth at 17% in June, particularly on the Africa-Asia lane, which was up 37.5% on June last year.
Europe-Asia, intra-Asia and the Middle East-Asia were up 20.3%, 21% and 15.1%, respectively and capacity increased 10.7%.
North America was the weakest performer at 9.5% with demand on North America-Europe routes up 6.7% and Asia-North America up 12.8%, the largest increase in five months. Capacity increased 6% in June.
Europe grew 16.1% and intra-European demand registered its sixth month of double-digit growth at 16.7%.
Europe-Middle East routes were up 30.2% and Europe-Asia demand increased 20.3%, and capacity increased 9.1%.
Middle East carriers grew 13.8% due to the strong Middle East-Europe growth and an increase of 15.1% on Middle East-Asia services. Capacity was up 6.9%.
Latin American carriers saw demand increase 13.1% and capacity rise 15.5% with international demand up 17.2% in June, up 6.3 percentage points on May.
African airlines were up 11.8% with Africa-Asia routes registering the strongest performance of all trade lanes, and capacity was up 23.8%.