Positive numbers for air cargo in July but risks remain - IATA

July was another solid month for the air cargo industry, but rising Covid numbers could disrupt the sector’s recovery, according to IATA (International Air Transport Association)

The latest numbers from the airline association show that in July demand in cargo tonne kilometre (CTK) terms increased by 8.6% compared with the same month in 2019 (used to mitigate 2020 Covid distortions).

Meanwhile, capacity in available CTK in July was down by 10.3% compared with 2019 levels. As a result of demand outpacing capacity, the cargo load factor reached 54.4% – a 9.5 percentage point increase on July 2019.

All regions registered an increase in demand, apart from Latin America.

Asia Pacific carriers saw CTKs increase by 1.2% in July compared with the same month in 2019. Load factors for the month stood at 65.4%, up 13.6 percentage points on two years earlier.

European carriers saw cargo traffic for the month increase by 6.1% on 2019 and load factors stood at 59.8% – an increase of 11.3 percentage points.

Although this was a slight slip on a month earlier, IATA said that manufacturing activity, orders and supplier delivery times are still favourable to air cargo.

North American carriers saw demand in July increase by 21.2% on two years earlier and load factors increased to 44.3%, up 7.1 percentage points.

This traffic increase was the strongest of all regions and comes as new export orders and demand for faster shipping times are underpinning performance.

Airlines based in the Middle East saw demand increase by 11.3% against 2019 and load factors stood at 53.6%.

Latin America-based carriers saw their cargo traffic for the month fall by 9.8% against 2019 and load factors were at 38.7%, up by 3.4 percentage points on 2019.

IATA said that performance from the region had been volatile but added that “several trade routes to/from Latin America are performing well, such as North-Central and North-South America and Europe-South America”.