News Details

African airlines post strongest performance in July with 2.9% cargo volume

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for July 2023 global air cargo markets, showing a continuing trend of recovering growth rates since February.

During the month under review, African airlines had the strongest performance in July 2023, with a 2.9% increase in cargo volumes compared to July 2022.

Notably, Africa–Asia routes experienced significant cargo demand growth (10.3%), capacity was 11.0% above July 2022 levels, while the continent accounted for 2.0% of the total global air cargo market

July air cargo demand was tracking just 0.8% below the previous year’s levels. Although demand is now basically flat compared to 2022, this is an improvement on recent months’ performance that is particularly significant given declines in global trade volumes and rising concerns over China’s economy.

Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), tracked at 0.8% below July 2022 levels (-0.4% for international operations). This was a significant improvement over the previous month’s performance (-3.4%).

Capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometers (ACTKs), was up 11.2% compared to July 2022 (10.8% for international operations). The strong uptick in ACTKs reflects the growth in belly capacity (29.3% year-on-year) due to the summer season.

The Director-General of IATA, Willie Walsh said that compared to July 2022, demand for air cargo was basically flat.

“Considering we were 3.4% below 2022 levels in June, that’s a significant improvement. And it continues a trend of strengthening demand that began in February. How this trend will evolve in the coming months will be something to watch carefully.  Many fundamental drivers of air cargo demand, such as trade volumes and export orders, remain weak or are deteriorating.

“There are growing concerns over how China’s economy is developing. At the same time, we are seeing shorter delivery times, which is normally a sign of increasing economic activity. Amid these mixed signals, strengthening demand gives us good reason to be cautiously optimistic.”

     

July Regional Performance

 African airlines had the strongest performance in July 2023, with a 2.9% increase in cargo volumes compared to July 2022. Notably, Africa–Asia routes experienced significant cargo demand growth (10.3%). Capacity was 11.0% above July 2022 levels.

Asia-Pacific airlines saw their air cargo volumes increase by 2.7% in July 2023 compared to the same month in 2022. This was a significant improvement in performance compared to June (-3.3%).  Carriers in the region benefited from growth on three major trade lanes: Europe-Asia (3.2% year-on-year growth), Middle East-Asia (up from 1.8% in June to 6.6% in July), and Africa-Asia (returning to double-digit growth of 10.3% year-on-year from -4.8% in June). Additionally, the within-Asia trade lane also performed considerably better in July, with an annual decline of international CTKs at 7.5% compared with the double-digit decreases observed since September 2022. Available capacity in the region increased by 26.0% compared to July 2022 as more belly capacity came online from the passenger side of the business.

North American carriers posted the weakest performance of all regions, with a 5.2% decrease in cargo volumes in July 2023 compared to the same month in 2022, marking the fifth consecutive month in which the region had the weakest performance. It was, however, a slight improvement compared to June (-5.9%).  The transatlantic route between North America and Europe saw traffic declining by 4.3% in July, 1.2 percentage points worse than the previous month. Capacity increased by 0.5% compared to July 2022.

European carriers saw their air cargo volumes decline by 1.5% in July compared to the same month in 2022.  This was, however, an improvement in performance versus June (-3.2%). Volumes were affected due to the aforementioned Europe–North America performance and contractions in the Middle East-Europe (-1.2%) and the within-Europe (-5.1%) markets. Capacity increased 5.3% in July 2023 compared to July 2022.

Middle Eastern carriers experienced a 1.5% year-on-year increase in cargo volumes in July 2023. This was also an improvement to the previous month’s performance (0.6%). The demand for Middle East–Asia routes has been trending upward in the past two months. Capacity increased 17.1% compared to July 2022.

Latin American carriers posted a 0.4% increase in cargo volumes compared to July 2022. This was a drop in performance compared to the previous month (2.2%). Capacity in July was up 10.0% compared to the same month in 2022

Popular Post

Archives

Categories

Instagram post