Airport cargo demand in July a ’cause for optimism’

Airport cargo figures for July “inspired some cause for optimism” even though demand over the first seven months still lags behind last year.
The latest figures from Airports Council International (ACI) show that airfreight demand increased by 3.9% year on year in July. However, over the first seven months cargo demand at airports is 1% down year on year.
ACI figures show that in July, international freight in Asia Pacific Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America — the three largest international air freight markets — grew 5.3%, 1% and 6.7% respectively.
Domestic airfreight traffic was much weaker during the same period: major freight hubs in North America reported a 5% decline, while in Asia-Pacific, domestic airfreight grew only by 0.8%.
Looking at individual countries: “The largest airfreight hubs of the US, China and Japan reported -0.2%, +4.5% and +1.8% respectively,” ACI said.
“The key airfreight hubs of Korea posted impressive growth of 8% during the month of July. In terms of absolute growth during the month of July, the top position was occupied by the Middle East air freight hub of Doha (+20%).”
The following six positions belong to airfreight hubs in Asia-Pacific, namely Hong Kong, which grew by 4.7%, Incheon up 7.9%, Singapore (+9.4%) and Shanghai-Pudong (4.6%).
The figures mirror those released by airline association IATA, which show airlines recorded a “robust” improvement in demand of 5% in July.
Airport data released so far for August – in Europe at least – paints a more mixed picture.