IATA: Air freight down, but improving

IATA: Air freight down, but improving    The International Air Transport Association said Thursday that global freight volume in July was down 11.3 percent from the same month in 2008.
   That represents a 'relative improvement' over the 16.5 percent drop year-on-year in June and the 19.3 percent drop for the first seven months of the year.
   But airlines' freight load factor dropped from 49 percent in July 2008 to 47.6 percent this July.
   “Demand may look better, but the bottom line has not improved,' said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and chief executive officer. 'We have seen little change to the unprecedented fall in yields and revenues. The months ahead are marked by many uncertainties, including the price of oil. The road to recovery will be both slow and volatile. In the meantime, the industry remains in intensive care.

Bisignani

   “The freight numbers tell an interesting story,' Bisignani added. 'The sector is being boosted as companies restock depleted inventories. Once inventories are at desired levels in relation to sales, improvements in demand will level off until business and consumer confidence returns. Given the large amount of debt in all sectors of the economy, instant relief is not in the forecast.'
   In terms of freight demand all regions except Africa saw improvement in demand compared to June. The Middle East was the only region to grow, at 1 percent. Carrier volume declines were 9.5 percent for Asia-Pacific, 16.2 percent Europe, 14.6 percent for North America and 1.2 percent for Latin American.
   'African carriers posted the worst performance at -25.9 percent,' IATA said. African carriers saw a 20.2 percent drop in volume in June.
   'The stabilization of air freight demand in the first quarter and its improvement in the second quarter has helped reduce the rate at which excess capacity has been growing,' IATA said. 'But load factors are still lower than levels seen at the same time last year. Downward pressure on freight rates and revenues continued to intensify in July.'