Europe airfreight traffic stabilising
15 / 07 / 2009
EUROPEAN airlines and airports recorded another month of poor freight traffic in May, although signs point the way to stabilisation.
“May was another catastrophic month for airfreight, which posted a 19.8 per cent decrease, year-on-year,” said the Association of European Airlines (AEA), which represents 33 carriers including Air France-KLM and British Airways. “Several AEA airlines have seen their cargo volumes cut by one third or more.”
David Henderson, manager information at the AEA, said: “You can tell how deep a well is by dropping a stone into it. When it comes to the airfreight market, the stone started falling several months ago and we’re still waiting to hear the splash.”
He added: “It is hard to imagine that decreases of this magnitude will not have long-lasting effects in the market, or even provoke fundamental changes, although we couldn’t predict what these could be.”
Airports Council International reported a drop of 20.1 per cent in May year-on-year in May, which at least is up from April’s -25.4 per cent fall. June’s figures are still not available but director-general Olivier Jankovec estimated that freight would be down around 16 per cent.