Released on April 3, 2024, the IATA report on February findings highlight a continuous and strong annual increase in the global air freight market. Global traffic, measured in tonne-kilometers, showed an 11.9% rise from February 2023 levels, with international transports registering a 12.4% increase. This ongoing trend underscores the sector's resilience amid political and economic uncertainties.
Capacity also saw a significant uptick, with a 13.4% increase over February 2023 and a notable 16% for international operations. Much of this growth is attributed to an increase in belly capacity, spurred by a 29.5% year-on-year surge in passenger markets, vastly outpacing the 3.2% annual increase in international freighter capacity.
"The demand growth in February far exceeded the 0.9% expansion in cross-border trade," explains Willie Walsh, IATA's Director General. "This strong start to 2024 could see demand surpass the exceptionally high levels seen at the start of 2022, highlighting air cargo's strong resilience amid ongoing political and economic uncertainties."
To account for this trend, IATA points to several macroeconomic factors: a 0.9% increase in global cross-border trade in January; the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing output rose to 51.2 in February, indicating expansion; meanwhile, the export orders PMI index also increased to 49.4, slightly below the 50 threshold indicating growth; February saw a year-on-year inflation decrease to 2.8% in the European Union, while inflation rates in Japan and the United States climbed to 2.8% and 3.2%, respectively. After four months of deflation, China reported a 0.7% year-on-year inflation increase, a positive development amid concerns over the country's economic slowdown.
Regionally, European carriers experienced the highest annual demand growth in February, at 14.6%, with intra-European transport surging by 24.5%, the highest performance in nearly three years. North American carriers saw the weakest growth at 4.2%. Trade between North America and Europe grew by 5.2% year-over-year, with Asia to North America routes increasing by 3.9%.
Asian-Pacific airlines reported an 11.9% growth, a significant drop from the 24.3% growth in January, likely due to a slowdown post-Lunar New Year celebrations, with capacity rising by 23.1%. Middle Eastern carriers saw a 20.9% increase, with the Middle East-Europe route experiencing the most significant growth at 39.3%. Latin American airlines grew by 13.7%, while African carriers reported the highest percentage increase at 22%.
