IATA: January volumes continue upward trend

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that January 2010 demand for international scheduled air traffic showed continuing improvement, with international cargo demand up 28.3 per cent with only a 3.7 per cent increase in capacity.

This pushed the cargo load factor to 49.6 per cent, a significant change from the 40.1 per cent recorded in January 2009.

There are large geographical differences in the improvements. The strongest upturns have been seen in markets where economic recovery from the recession has been strongest - Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Compared to the low point in the downturn (December 2008 - January 2009), international air freight traffic has regained about 28.3 per cent, although this is still 3-4 per cent below the early- 2008 peak level.

The sharp improvement in airfreight, which accelerated to 3 per cent in January compared with December, is being driven by businesses re-stocking depleted inventories and IATA has warned this part of the inventory cycle will not last much longer.

Durable airfreight growth will require consumers to start buying again and businesses to return to making investments. While these improvements are beginning to be seen in Asia, Europe and North America lag behind.