Air Freight Demand Rose 3.9 Pct In August - IATA

IATA released data on Wednesday for global air freight markets showing that August demand rose 3.9 percent compared with 2015.

Capacity (in available freight tonne kilometres) increased by 4.1 percent in the month over the same period last year.

IATA said load factors remained at historically low levels, keeping yields under pressure.

"August numbers showed improvements in cargo demand. While this is good news, the underlying market conditions make it difficult to have long-term optimism”, IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac said.

“Current global political rhetoric in much of the world is more focused on protectionism than trade promotion”, he added.

Geographically, Europe posted the strongest gains in August with demand up 6.6 percent. North America had a 5.5 percent boost in volume, with Asia-Pacific managing only a 2.8 percent increase.