Hurricane Sandy slams cargo, recovery slower than passenger sector

HURRICANE Sandy depressed an already soft air freight and passenger demand in October and is forecast to rebound slower for freight than for passenger volumes.

The decline, which runs from November, has signalled a possible migration from air to sea on trade routes between Asia and Europe already seen in lowering cargo volumes both in passenger bellyholds and freighters, reports Dow Jones.

"The rapid decline in freight traffic is outrunning the industry's ability to respond," Mr Tyler said of an industry that shrunk globally by 3.5 per cent year on year in October and 2.2 per cent in the previous month. Asian carriers represented two-thirds of the decline during October.

Despite passenger volume slump, globally traffic was up by 2.8 per cent during the month of October year on year and only slightly down on the previous month at 0.5 per cent, driven by international business travel decline most marked in Asian carriers.

But a rebound was seen in Brazil and China boosted by a robust China domestic market, which increased 7.5 per cent year on year against a capacity increase of 11 per cent. Brazil's domestic market was even stronger with a 9.8 per cent increase.