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Global air freight volumes shrink 9.3pc, but softening may have June peak

WORLDWIDE air cargo revenues in the first half of the year decreased by 9.3 per cent year on year, with almost all city pairs monitored suffering a decline, although market softness appears to have peaked in June, according to figures from WorldACD.

The worst performing origin and destinations over the half year was Asia Pacific and Europe which "suffered heavily" with revenue losses of between 13 per cent and 47 per cent on the previous year due "more to yield deterioration than volume loss," its report said.

"Of the top 50 traffic streams outside the transpacific market, only three recorded a positive revenue development: Nairobi-Amsterdam, Chicago London and Mumbai-London. Of the absolute volume growth worldwide, 37.5 per cent came from pharmaceuticals and perishables only."

However, when looking at June in isolation, the latest month for which data is available, Europe's performance "changed remarkably" with volume growth of 5.9 per cent against last year, compared with a 1.2 per cent fall in May.

"Year-over-year volume growth was slightly higher [in June] at 2.6 per cent compared with 1.8 per cent [in May], overall yield in dollars fell again by two per cent compared with May, yield excluding charges stood its ground, and Africa at five per cent growth and the Middle East and South Asia (MESA) at 6.4 per cent were again among the best performing origins volume-wise," the analyst said.

The continued slowdown of the Asia Pacific region was again reflected in the figures with year-on-year volume growth of only 0.4 per cent.