Air cargo demand grows by 5% in Jan: IATA

Global air freight demand was "very strong" and rose by 5 percent in January this year on the back of encouraging growth towards the end of 2012, according to data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

"However the rise was from an exceptionally low base, caused by the timing of Chinese New Year, which occurred in February this year, skewing year-on-year comparisons as many Asian factories close and last year the holiday period occurred in January.

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"Compared to the level of Freight Tonne Kilometres (FTK) in December, air freight volumes in January were 0.9 percent lower. Year-on-year, capacity expanded by 2.1 percent and the global load factor stood at 41.9 percent," the IATA statement said.

Compared to the previous year, demand for air freight was apparently very strong, with a rise of 5.0 percent, it added. According to the association, the air freight business is showing some encouraging signs but it's too early to be overly optimistic.

"While the decline has stopped, overall volumes are still below the levels of 2010 and 2011. Load factors are low. And the global economy is fragile. Our forecast remains for modest demand growth of 1.4 percent.

"But with weak load factors, yields are going to continue to be under severe downward pressure," said Tony Tyler, Director General and CEO of IATA. Asia-Pacific carriers, which represent some 39.2 percent of global air cargo, saw year-on-year demand growth of 7.1 percent, while capacity was down 0.4 percent.

Adjusting for the effect of Chinese New Year, it is estimated that the region's carriers saw demand growth of about 3 percent. The region's airlines have captured about 60 percent of the growth in FTK volumes seen in January compared to October.

This has been led by the acceleration in the Chinese economy and with export-dependent economies like South Korea and Chinese Taipei experiencing stronger global demand, it said.

"Middle Eastern airlines continued to be the most rapidly growing to be the fastest-growing, reporting a demand increase of 16.3 percent over January 2012. This was ahead of a 12.4 percent capacity expansion.

The region's airlines continue to benefit from route and capacity expansion into rapidly growing economies in West Africa and Asia. African airlines reported a demand increase of 3.7 percent while capacity expanded by 13.9 percent. The region's carriers benefitted from strong economic growth, particularly in West Africa.