Air cargo demand slides again but beats pre-pandemic levels

Air cargo demand slipped again in February but exceeded pre-pandemic levels for the first time in eight months. The latest statistics from IATA show that demand in February fell 7.5% year on year in cargo tonne kilometres (CTKs). However, CTKs for the month were up 2.9% compared with February 2019 levels. The last time demand beat pre-pandemic levels was June of last year. Also, the decline was lower than the 14.9% year-on-year decline recorded in January and the 15.3% fall in December.<br/>Cargo load factors for the month were down 7.9 percentage points compared with last year at 45.6% as capacity increased by 8.6%. The increase in capacity reflects the addition of belly capacity as the passenger side of the business continues to recover. IATA director general Willie Walsh says: “The story of air cargo in February is one of slowing declines. Year-on-year demand fell by 7.5%. That’s half the rate of decline experienced in January. “This shifting of gears was sufficient to boost the overall industry into positive territory (+2.9%) compared to pre-pandemic levels. An optimistic eye could see the start of an improvement trend that leads to market stabilisation and a return to more normal demand patterns after dramatic ups and downs in recent years.” Looking at market indicators, IATA said that the global new export orders component of the manufacturing PMI continued to increase in February and China’s PMI level indicated that demand for manufactured goods from the country is growing. Meanwhile, global goods trade decreased by 1.5% in January, which was a slower rate of decline than the previous month of 3.3%. <br/>