AIR CARGO QUARTERLY UPDATE BY IATA
(Posted 12th March 2018)
Key points:
- Air freight tonne kilometres (FTKs) grew by 7.4% year-on-year in the three months ended January – a robust pace by historical standards. That said, the quarterly seasonally adjusted (SA) pace of volume growth slowed once again.
- Demand for air freight has been boosted since mid-2016 by the stronger economic and trade backdrop, bottlenecks in manufacturing supply chains, and a broader inventory restocking cycle. Recent protectionist measures pose risks to global trade, but business surveys still point to solid annual FTK growth of around 5.6% in Q2 2018.
- Favorable supply and demand dynamics have continued to drive cargo yields upwards, and to offset some pressure from rising fuel costs. Meanwhile, daily freighter utilization rates have also continued to trend upwards into 2018.
