The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released October data for global air freight markets showing that  Africa is staging the strongest increase in demand for air cargo amid a slow recovery in the global air freight market.
According to the clearinghouse for over 190 global airlines, African airlines saw demand increase by 2.8% year-on-year in October, stressing that this was lower than the 12.1% growth in September.
Despite this, the region still posted the strongest increase in international demand. The slight weakening in performance can be attributed to a slowdown in the Asia-Africa market where demand decelerated by 19 percentage points year-on-year. International capacity decreased by 20.8%.
October Regional Performance
African airlines saw demand increase by 2.8% year-on-year in October. This was lower than the 12.1% growth in September. Despite this, the region still posted the strongest increase in international demand. The slight weakening in performance can be attributed to a slowdown in the Asia-Africa market where demand decelerated by 19 percentage points year-on-year. International capacity decreased by 20.8%.
Asia-Pacific airlines saw demand for international air cargo fall 11.6% in October 2020 compared to the same month a year earlier. This was an improvement from the 14.6% fall in September 2020 and the second consecutive month of improvement. International capacity remained constrained in the region, down 28.7%. However, this was an improvement over the 31.8% fall in capacity the previous month. The region’s airlines reported the highest international load factor indicating a solid appetite for air cargo services.
North American carriers posted a 1.3% increase in international demand in October compared to the previous year—the second month of growth in 10 months. This strong performance compared to the rest of the industry was driven by the Asia-North America routes, reflecting rising e-commerce demand for products manufactured in Asia and smaller capacity declines than other regions. The region’s domestic market decelerated slightly from September but remained robust. International capacity decreased by 16.6%.
European carriers reported a decrease in demand of 11.9% in October compared to the previous year. This was an improvement from the 15.6% fall in September 2020. Air cargo in the region has been largely unaffected by the resurgence of the COVID-19 virus. International capacity decreased 28% an improvement from the 32.6% fall the previous month.  Â
Middle Eastern carriers reported a decline of 1.9% in year-on-year international cargo volumes in October, unchanged from September. However, the pace of recovery in October was slower than in September with month-on-month demand, improving 6.0% and 2.5% respectively. The weaker performance is driven by less demand in Africa-Middle East trade lanes. International capacity decreased by 22.7%. Â
Latin American carriers reported a decline of 12.5% in international cargo volumes in October compared to the previous year. This was a significant improvement from the 22.2% fall in September 2020. The pace of month-on-month recovery was the strongest of all regions in October with demand climbing by 4%. The region’s improved year-on-year performance can be partly attributed to weak growth in the same period last year. However, improving operating conditions in a few key markets including Brazil and recovering cargo capacity also contributed. International capacity decreased by 29.1% compared with up from 32.1% in September.
