Air Freight Bucks Trend In March

WORLDWIDE - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) have announced scheduled international traffic results for March 2011 compiled from statistics which emanate from the organisations 230 plus members which represent almost 95% of the world’s scheduled passenger and freight carriers. Compared to February, global passenger demand fell by 0.3% in March, while cargo demand expanded by 4.5% with year-on-year growth in freight markets rebounded to 3.7% in March from the 1.8% recorded in the previous month.

From the second half of 2010 until January 2011, international air freight expanded in tandem with the growth in world trade at an annualized rate of about 10%, the drop to 1.8% in February accounted for by various factors. The Asia-Pacific region which accounts for 43% of global freight saw a reduction in air cargo of 0.6% in March against last year; this represents a jump of 8.2% against February which suffered from the effects of a prolonged Chinese New Year break. Compared to February, freight demand actually improved by 8.2%. Were it not for the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the rebound would have been much stronger.

Traffic carried by European and North American carriers was up year-on-year for March 6.1% and 7.1% respectively and Middle East and Latin American freight demand increases of 10.1% and 10.4% respectively for the same period. African carriers reported the worst performance for March 2011 with a 2.8% fall in demand compared to March 2010.

IATA believes that traffic levels will fall in the second quarter picking up later in the year. A statement from Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO said there was evidence for strong economic growth outside of Europe but that the price of oil was a worrying factor likely to hit the passenger market harder than that of freight.

The 5th to 7th June will witness the IATA Annual General Meeting in Singapore, once again against a background of turbulence throughout the industry with security concerns across the globe, rising fuel costs and uncertain demands on services all being of major concern to the industry.

Photo: A relaxed Giovanni Bisignani, IATA boss.