Global air cargo demand in April was up 12% from its pre-crisis level, according to IATA, as the sector continues to offer a rare positive airline story during the Covid-19 crisis.
Measured in cargo tonne kilometres, the performance was led by North American carriers, which contributed 7.5 percentage points to the 12% growth rate in April. All other regions, apart from Latin America, supported the growth, IATA notes.
| IATA air cargo data: April 2021 versus April 2019 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | World share | CTK | ACTK | CLFC | CLF |
| Total Market | 100% | 12.0% | -9.7% | 11.2pp | 57.8% |
| Africa | 2.0% | 29.2% | -2.3% | 12.3pp | 50.4% |
| Asia Pacific | 32.6% | 5.4% | -13.7% | 11.5pp | 63.3% |
| Europe | 22.3% | 11.5% | -18.1% | 18.1pp | 68.1% |
| Latin America | 2.4% | -31.0% | -47.2% | 10.7pp | 45.7% |
| Middle East | 13.0% | 15.3% | -9.9% | 13.1pp | 59.8% |
| North America | 27.8% | 23.7% | 5.8% | 6.9pp | 47.3% |
| NOTES: Changes versus April 2019. CTK = cargo tonne kilometres, ACTK = available cargo tonne kilometres, CLFC = cargo load factor change versus April 2019, CLF = cargo load factor | |||||
The improvements came amid helpful “underlying economic conditions” and “favourable supply chain dynamics”, the airline industry association explains.
The continued low level of long-haul passenger operations in particular – international belly-cargo capacity was down 38.5% during the month – meant freight capacity remained 9.7% below pre-Covid-19 levels in April.
IATA states that airlines are continuing to use dedicated freighters to “plug the lack of available belly capacity”, with international capacity from such aircraft rising 26.2% during the month.
“Air cargo continues to be the good news story for the air transport sector,” says IATA director general Willie Walsh.
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