IATA reports a 7.7% increase in air cargo traffic in September, driven by global trade and AI-related shipments.
Total air cargo traffic grew 7.7% year over year in September, according to the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) monthly traffic and capacity report. The association attributed the increase to strong global trade, particularly shipments linked to artificial intelligence (AI). Capacity also expanded compared with September of last year, and every region measured in the report recorded higher traffic.
Total capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometers (ACTKs), expanded at a more modest 2.7% over the same period. Because demand outpaced added space, the global cargo load factor rose by 2.2 percentage points to 47.9%.
IATA, which represents roughly 330-350 airlines accounting for over 80% of global air traffic, attributed the growth acceleration to resilient global manufacturing output, expanding international trade (+6.9% YoY), and strong demand for semiconductor, server, and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure hardware.
IATA tracks demand in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs) and capacity in ACTKs. Crucially, IATA categorizes regional performance by airline country of registration rather than origin/destination of cargo:
- North American Carriers: Led all regions with 11.8% overall CTK growth (+15.3% for international operations), driven by strong trade flows and AI tech equipment movement. North American carriers saw their load factor jump 4.3 percentage points to 43.9%.
- Asia-Pacific Carriers: Provided the single largest volume contribution (+721.1 million CTK), growing total traffic by 8.6% YoY (+10.0% international).
- European Carriers: Recorded 4.5% CTK growth (+4.6% international), accounting for 12.6% of total global growth.
- Latin American Carriers: Expanded traffic by 6.7% YoY.
- African Carriers: Posted 4.7% YoY growth.
- Middle Eastern Carriers: Grew 3.8% YoY (+3.9% international) as carriers continued restoring network connectivity.
- International air cargo demand alone expanded by 8.6% YoY. Broad-based gains across all carrier regions signal a strong demand foundation entering the fourth-quarter peak season.
For freight forwarders, the widening gap between demand growth (+7.7%) and capacity growth (+2.7%) underscores the importance of securing carrier allocations and leveraging real-time shipment visibility tools to guarantee space on high-demand, tech-driven trade lanes.
