Miserable May for top air cargo airports

Total airfreight growth dipped to a one-year low of 1.3% in May, with half of the world’s top 30 air cargo hubs posting a monthly decrease.
Latest statistics from Airports Council International (ACI) show that air cargo’s poor performance during May was in stark contrast to a “robust” 6.9% growth in passenger traffic for the same month.
Said ACI: “Robust growth in passenger traffic [in May] was led by Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, but on the other hand, weak growth in airfreight coupled with significant declines in major international airfreight hubs raises concerns about the second half of the year.
“While international tourism remains buoyant, the weaker than expected economic performance of Europe and the slowdown of international exports from Asia signal ongoing trepidations.”
ACI figures show that Paris (CDG) and Miami (MIA) declined by a “substantial” 7.6% and 5.7%, respectively.
ACI said that other major freight hubs saw red ink in May with Frankfurt (FRA) down 3.4%, Taipei (TPE) down 2.9%, Tokyo (NRT) down 2.7% and Bangkok (BKK) down 2.7%
Added ACI: “The ongoing concerns in the Euro area are reflected in a 0.6% decrease in total freight as compared to the previous year. Domestic freight in Europe is in decline by a significant 5.6% and international freight is down slightly by 0.5%.”
The Middle East is outpacing Asia-Pacific with 4.4% versus 1.6% growth in total freight, while North America and Latin America each show 1.1% growth in total freight traffic for May.
Africa posted an optimistic 10.3% increase, driven by total freight traffic growth of 9.4% and 15.9% in Johannesburg (JNB) and Casablanca (CMN), respectively.