Cargo decline slows in April

THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released data for April 2023 global air cargo markets, showing a continued, but slower, decline against the previ-ous year’s demand performance.Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs), fell 6.6% compared to April 2022 (-7.0% for inter-national operations). This decline was an improvement over the previous month’s performance (-7.6%).Capacity (measured in available cargo tonne-kilometres, ACTK) was up 13.4% compared to April 2022. It was also up 3.2% compared to April 2019, marking the first time in three years that the capacity has surpassed pre-Covid lev-els. The strong uptick is primarily driven by belly capacity as demand in the passenger business recovers. Adjusting for this, freighter capacity declined 2.3%. Preighter operations ceased in March after 2.5 years of continuous activity.As per a release, the key factors influ-encing demand include:H The global new export orders compo-nent of the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a leading indicator of cargo de-mand, improved in April. China’s PMI level surpassed the critical 50-mark indicating that demand for manufactured goods from the world’s largest export economy is growing.H Global goods trade increased by 0.2% in March, mark-ing the first annual increase since November 2022.H Consumer and producer prices increases have moder-ated. The April headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) re-corded rates of 5.0% in the US, 0.3% in China, and 3.5% in Japan. While Europe (excluding the UK) was higher (8.1%), it is well below its 11.5% October 2022 peak.“The air cargo industry is adjusting itself to the implications of the recovery in passenger demand that brings with it an expan-sion of belly capacity. Preighter operations stopped in March and freighter services were scaled back by 2.3% in April. The demand environment is challenging to read. Tapering inflation is definitely a positive. But the degree and speed at which that could lead to looser monetary policies that might stimulate demand is unclear. The resilience that got the air cargo industry through the Covid-19 crisis is also critical in the aftermath,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.