Cargo and Pax Traffic Grows in May

As has been reported elsewhere, the International Air Transport Association released figures showing increases in both international cargo and passenger volumes for May, 2007. In the air freight sector, UPS, DHL and FedEx all have added capacity in Asia, with particular focus on China.   

Parcel carrier hubs in Shanghai, as well as a rush to beat a change in export tax fees at the Shanghai Pudong airport also have pushed traffic up from that airport. Global freight growth was lead however by Asian airlines and heavy traffic in the Middle East.   Complete statistics provided by IATA can be found here.

clipped from www.iata.org Cargo Rebounds, Passenger Demand Steady GENEVA - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released traffic results for May that showed 5.5% growth in year-on-year international passenger demand.  Growth in freight demand rose to 5.0% (up sharply from 2.8% in April). This was the largest increase since September 2006. Average load factors remained strong at 73.7%, up 0.1% year-on-year. “The pick-up in freight, led by Asia, could be the first sign of strengthening demand. Over the next months we will be closely watching the impact of several changing conditions, including intensifying competition from other modes of transport and structural changes such as manufacturers producing lighter goods. On the passenger side, growth has stabilized while strong competition is keeping load factors high even as carriers aggressively expand international routes to take advantage of some liberalizing markets,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO. Air freight demand growth was led by airlines in the Middle East at 10.5%. However, Asia Pacific airlines drove overall freight growth, with demand doubling from 3.8% in April to 7.6% in May, reflecting the strong levels of economic and trade growth in the region. Air freight demand growth remained sluggish in North America (2.6%), Europe (1.6%) and Latin America (1.1%) while African air freight demand (-3.6%) dropped  sharply.

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