Pictured: Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA
Demand measured in cargo tonne kilometres (CTK) was up 11.1% year-on-year in April, the fifth month of double-digit growth.
Capacity measured in available CTK was up 7.1% with load factors increasing 1.6 percentage points to 43.9%.
Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA, says, “While many economic uncertainties remain, it appears that the roots of air cargo’s strong performance are deepening. In recent months, air cargo demand grew even when the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) was indicating the potential for contraction. With the PMI now indicating growth, the prospects for continued strong demand are even more robust.”
In April, the global manufacturing output PMI was 51.5 and the new export orders PMI was 50.5, which is the first time in two years that the latter has been in growth territory.
Industrial production increased by 1.6% in March and cross-border trade contracted by 0.8%.
Inflation remained in April stable at 3.4% in the US, 2.6% in the EU and 2.5% in Japan.
Consumer prices in China were up 0.2%, which IATA says is a positive signal amid concerns over China’s economic slowdown.
Airlines in Asia-Pacific reported 14% growth in April with intra-Asia demand up 13.2%, Asia-Europe up 17.7% and the Middle East-Asia route was up 10.4%, which was 9.4 percentage points less than the growth registered in March.
North America had the weakest growth of 7% with the Asia-North America trade lane up 7.3% and North America-Europe was up by 5.6%.
European carriers saw growth of 12.7% in April with intra-European air cargo up 34.4%, the highest annual growth in over a decade and 8.1 percentage points higher than March. Europe-Middle East routes increased by 30.1%, a drop of 8.5 percentage points compared to March.
Middle Eastern carriers grew by 9.4% with the Middle East-Europe lane up 30.1% and Middle East-Asia routes up 10.4%.
Latin American carriers saw growth of 11.7% in April.
Africa was up 10.6% in April with the Africa-Asia market increasing 25.8% compared to April 2023.