Air Cargo Volume Continues Modest Improvement, IATA Says
International Air Transport Association (IATA) data from February shows that air cargo maintained the modest improvement in demand that began at the end of 2012, it said. Seasonally adjusted cargo volumes are 2.5 percent above the October 2012 low point, although comparisons with February 2012 performance show a 6.2 percent decline, it said. This is “severely skewed” due to two factors: (1) February 2012 had an extra day because of leap year. (2) Chinese New Year, which sees extensive factory closings in Asia, took place in January 2012 and February 2013. Adjusting for those abnormalities, air cargo was up 2 percent in February over last year. IATA said.
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North American freight demand dropped 3.1 percent and capacity was down 4.2 percent in February, IATA found. European air freight demand fell by 5.4 percent as Eurozone weakness persisted. Asia-Pacific saw a 14.7 percent decline in freight traffic compared to February 2012, almost entirely due to the many factory closings for the Chinese New Year holiday. But Latin American and African carriers saw air freight demand rise by 2.9 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, and Middle East airlines also recorded strong growth, with a 12. 3 percent hike over last year, it said.
International economic indicators suggest that the global economy bottomed out in the third quarter of 2012, IATA said, but industrial production and business confidence have improved since then. Demand for sea shipments already reflects recovery in some parts of the world, but “we are not yet seeing the positive impact of this in air cargo markets,” said IATA Director General Tony Tyler.
The air cargo value chain is embracing the technological change needed to make e-freight a reality, Tyler said. It wants100 percent e-air waybill use by 2015, a major step toward going paperless, he said. That will make air cargo more competitive because of more efficient processing and connectivity, he said. But governments, regulators and customs authorities must be on board as well. The system “cannot happen while regulators insist on seeing paper copies of documents,” he said.