Strong December Lifts 2016 Air Freight Demand - IATA

Global demand for air freight jumped 9.8 percent in December, with Europe seeing particularly strong growth.

Europe’s 16.4 percent increase lead the regional table for growth, with Africa second on 13.6 percent and the Middle East third with 11.2 percent. Latin America was the only region that posted negative growth with a 1 percent drop in demand.

Capacity for the month saw a more modest 3.2 percent increase, with all regions bar Latin America and North America boosting availability in available freight tonne km terms.

Load factors were higher as a result of the more limited capacity increase with an overall 2.8 percentage point increase to 46.1 percent. All regions recorded increases in their reported load factors.

For the full year 2016, global demand improved 3.8 percent on a 5.3 percent lift in AFTK capacity. Load factor dropped 0.6 of a percentage point to 43 percent.

Europe again lead the recovery with a 7.6 percent increase in demand, followed by the Middle East on 6.9 percent and Africa with 3.1 percent. All regions showed an increase with the exception of Latin America which reported a 4.2 percent drop.

“In terms of demand, 2016 was a good year for air cargo. That was boosted by solid year-end performance. Looking ahead, strong export orders are good news. But there are headwinds. The most significant is stagnant world trade which also faces the risk of protectionist measures.” IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac said in a statement.