Air cargo demand expectations weaken

An IATA survey of heads of cargo has revealed that demand expectations for the year ahead have weakened, although growth is still expected.
The IATA Confidence Index revealed that in July 53% of respondents expected to see increases in freight tonne kms in the year ahead.
However, this compares with 63% of respondents expecting growth in the April survey.
IATA said: “Expectations have weakened slightly on the back of slower growth in world trade over recent months with large declines in key markets like emerging Asia as well as little improvement in business confidence due to sluggishness in some emerging markets.”
The survey also revealed that respondents continued to expect declines in yields during the year ahead, as they had in the April survey.
“There could be further declines in yields once [fuel] hedging positions unwind, although some of those would already have done so but the survey does not predict further falls than those anticipated in April.”
In total, 44.8% of respondents said they expected yield declines over the coming 12 months, 37.9% said they expected no change and 17.2% said they expected an increase.