THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) statistics show that air cargo demand in freight tonne kilometres increased by 0.1 per cent in March, reports London's Air Cargo News.
This is an improvement on February's 4.9 per cent decline, but demand for the first quarter is two per cent down from a year ago.
Meanwhile, freight capacity for the month was 3.1 per cent up on a year ago meaning that capacity growth has now outstripped demand for 11 of the last 12 months.
IATA also pointed out that air cargo continues to face significant headwinds: global trade volumes have fallen by one per cent over the past year, global economic activity and consumer confidence continue to weaken and the export order component of the manufacturers' purchasing managers index indicates further declines.
Said IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac: 'After four consecutive months of contraction, this is encouraging, but the headwinds from weakening global trade, growing trade tensions and shrinking order books have not gone away.'
'Markets within Asia Pacific lost 7.6 per cent year on year in the first quarter,' WorldACD said. 'In the same period, five of the 10 markets to/from Asia Pacific also performed below the world average, notably the larger ones Asia Pacific to Europe (-4.9 per cent), Europe to Asia Pacific (-4.3 per cent) and North America to Asia Pacific (-4.7 per cent).'
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This is an improvement on February's 4.9 per cent decline, but demand for the first quarter is two per cent down from a year ago.
Meanwhile, freight capacity for the month was 3.1 per cent up on a year ago meaning that capacity growth has now outstripped demand for 11 of the last 12 months.
IATA also pointed out that air cargo continues to face significant headwinds: global trade volumes have fallen by one per cent over the past year, global economic activity and consumer confidence continue to weaken and the export order component of the manufacturers' purchasing managers index indicates further declines.
Said IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac: 'After four consecutive months of contraction, this is encouraging, but the headwinds from weakening global trade, growing trade tensions and shrinking order books have not gone away.'
'Markets within Asia Pacific lost 7.6 per cent year on year in the first quarter,' WorldACD said. 'In the same period, five of the 10 markets to/from Asia Pacific also performed below the world average, notably the larger ones Asia Pacific to Europe (-4.9 per cent), Europe to Asia Pacific (-4.3 per cent) and North America to Asia Pacific (-4.7 per cent).'
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