African Air Freight grows 4.4%
“The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for April 2019 showing that demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose by 4.3% compared to April 2018. Its capacity grew 12.6 percent year-on-year.
African carriers posted growth in April 2019 of 4.4% compared to the same period a year earlier. The strong FTK growth in late 2016 and into 2017 has been only partly unwound, and international FTKs for African carriers are still more than 30% higher than their level of three years ago. Capacity grew 12.6% year-on-year.
Asia-Pacific airlines saw demand for air freight contract by 7.4% in April 2019, compared to the same period in 2018. This was the sixth consecutive month of falling demand in the region, where international volumes are down 8.1% compared with the level of a year ago.
European airlines posted a sharp 6.2% decrease in freight demand in April 2019 compared to the same period a year earlier. Weakness in German export orders, along with subdued economic growth and the ongoing lack of clarity around Brexit are all factors weighing upon air freight outcomes.
Latin American airlines experienced an increase in freight demand growth in April 2019 of 5.0% compared to the same period last year—a third consecutive month of positive FTK growth.
Middle Eastern airlines’ freight volumes decreased 6.2% in April 2019 compared to the year-ago period. Capacity increased by 0.7%. Air freight volumes have been declining since the fourth quarter of 2018.
North American airlines saw demand increase by 0.1% in April 2019, compared to the same period a year earlier. International FTKs, however, fell 0.8%.”