Global air freight traffic grew at the slowest rate in nearly a year in September, expanding 14.8 percent over last year but also falling 2.1 percent from the month before.
The International Air Transport Association said September marked the second straight month-to-month decline in overall air freight traffic, following the 1 percent slip in August.
That left air freight volume 6 percent below the 2010 peak set in May.
The “air freight numbers are worrying,” said IATA Director General Giovanni Bisagnani. “What we see in air cargo markets is inevitably reflected in the broader economy.”
The Middle East was the only region that bucked the trend toward deceleration, expanding air freight traffic 24 percent over last year.
The smallest year-over-year growth came in Europe, with traffic up 11.1 percent, while North American air freight grew 13 percent. But the growth rate in North America was nearly half the 25.7 percent expansion for the region in August.
Carriers still are adding capacity at a strong pace, with available freight space growing 11.9 percent in September compared to September 2009. Capacity was almost flat in Latin America, however, while freight traffic grew 21.3 percent year-over-year.
The Journal of Commerce Online
Login
.jpg)
