Airfreight volumes stabilise but remain ‘shockingly low’

Geneva-based IATA said global air cargo demand in March moved sideways in the -21% to -24% range since its plunge from -7.9% to -23.2% between October last year and January 2009.
Asia Pacific recorded a decline of 24.1%, the second biggest after Africa’s drop of 29.4%.
Airlines cut international passenger capacity by 4.4% resulting in an average load factor of 72.1%, which is a 5.4 percentage point drop from the average load factor in March 2008.
In Asia Pacific, passenger capacity dropped 9.3% in March, which led to an average load factor of 71.2% while passenger demand plunged 14.5% in Asia Pacific and was down 11.1% globally.
IATA also said international revenues would likely fall by as much as 20% in March.
“The global economic crisis continues to reduce demand for international air travel and the only glimmer of hope is that cargo demand has stabilised this month although shockingly low at -21.4%,” IATA chief executive Giovanni Bisignani said.
“It’s not the end of the recession but we may have found the floor.”
IATA also warned that demand could worsen because of the swine flu outbreak.