Americas Cargo Monthly: Airfreight demand continues to soar at US carriers
18 / 08 / 2017
US airlines continued to see air cargo traffic increase at double-digit percentage levels in July, with improvements recorded at American, Delta and United.
United, the largest freight carrier of the three airlines, saw demand increase by 17.1% year on year during the month to reach 279m cargo ton miles (CTM).
This is the eleventh double-digit percentage improvement in traffic recorded by the airline in a row and also the busiest July for the airline since Air Cargo News records began in 2011.
However, the improvement is slightly behind the level recorded for the year to date, which stands at 20.5%.
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American Airlines recorded its largest year-on-year increase so far in 2017 in July with a 21.9% increase to 245m CTM, ahead of year-to-date growth of 15.7%.
It was also the busiest July on Air Cargo News records, starting in 2013, and the fifth month in a row the airline has seen demand improve by a double-digit percentage.
Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines continued its recovery after cargo traffic growth lagged behind that of United and American over recent years.
The Atlanta-hubbed airline registered a 19.2% year-on-year increase in cargo traffic to 203m CTM in July – its busiest July since 2014 and its biggest percentage improvement of the year so far. Freight traffic over the first seven months is up by 7.3%.
In a recent interview with Air Cargo News, Delta Cargo president Gareth Joyce said the airline lost ground on its rivals in cargo traffic terms because of a focus at the overall airline on putting “the right capacity on the right lanes”.
The LATAM Group also continued to report improvements in cargo traffic in July. Demand was up 0.8% to 276m revenue cargo tonne km, only its third year-on-year increase since the start of 2014, with all three coming this year.
Over the first seven months of the year, demand is 3% behind the same period in 2016. Meanwhile, a reduction in capacity helped improve cargo load factors to 51.9% from 48.8% last year.
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