IATA releases April freight performance numbers

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Freight (Domestic and International combined)

1. Domestic air freight is about 12% of total freight shipments. Commentary for this section focuses on combined (international and domestic figures). Load factors which stood at 46.5% for April, have dropped by some 4 percentage points compared to last May’s peak. This is reversing the strong boost to profitability that freight delivered in 2010.
2. Although world trade has been expanding at an annualized rate of 10%, air freight markets have shrunk by 6% compared to their post recession peak in May 2010.
3. Freight on African carriers contracted by 5.8% due to the aftermath of the political unrest in the region.Asia-Pacific carriers also saw a contraction, but by a smaller 2.5%, due to disruptions in the supply chains for autos and electronics in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
4. By contrast, European airlines are starting to benefit from improvement in international trade. The 12.9% year-on-year growth for international freight recorded in April is a positive sign, albeit skewed by the volcanic ash disruptions of the previous year.