Airport freight stagnates in February

GLOBAL freight volumes at airports stagnated in February, reflecting a decrease of 3.3 per cent in domestic freight traffic. This compares to a 22 per cent increase in the reference period February 2010.

Asia Pacific and the Middle East recorded declines of 3.4 and 9.3 per cent respectively. The drop seen in Asia Pacific was mostly caused by domestic freight decreases due to the Chinese New Year celebrations. Globally, international freight continued to expand by 1.6 per cent.

“It would be misleading to interpret these figures as a precursor to a cooling world economy,” said Andreas Schimm (right), ACI director economics. “Growth rates were exceptionally high during the first half of the 2010 reference period, and the situation is already positive if the volumes reached then can be upheld.”