WRITTEN BY: FELICITY STREDDER | 09/08/2016
Following an influx of positive second-quarter results, the latest June numbers from IATA confirm a 4.3% year-over-year increase in FTKs.
This represents the fastest pace of growth in 14 months, however capacity continues to exceed demand as available freight tonne kilometres increased by 4.9% over the same time period.
Every major region exhibited growth in June bar that of Latin America, where FTKs decreased by 9.8%, demonstrative of the year-long regional downturn and lessening demand from China.
The fastest demand growth was seen in the Middle East and Europe, where FTK increases of 8% and 5.1% respectively, were recorded, compared to the previous year. Fraport, which operates at Frankfurt airport and several others, attributed strong demand to German goods. IATA concurred, noting that, “European performance corresponds with signs of an increase in export orders in Germany over the last few months.” European airlines also notes a 4.9% increase in capacity June 2016.
For Middle Eastern carriers, which recorded June’s largest year-on-year increase in freight volumes at 8%, capacity again outpaced growth, reaching 8.7%. According to IATA, however, the region’s 6.6% international freight growth rate for the first six months of the year is far below the 14.3% average growth recorded for the same period in 2015.
In the Asia-Pacific region, carriers posted a 3.5% increase in demand for air cargo in June, compared to the previous June. Capacity also expanded 3.6%. “The Asia-Pacific airfreight market has been improving in recent months, most notably the large ‘within Asia’ market,” IATA noted, concluding that, “Nonetheless, freight volumes from ‘emerging Asia’ continue to face headwinds from weak trade in the region and globally.”
News cited from magazine.groundhandling.com
