Global total air cargo demand grew strongly in November, year-on-year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA – the global representative body for the airline industry) has reported. While this was partly a result of air cargo’s weak performance in November 2022, it was also part of the late 2023 trend of increasing air cargo demand.

“November [total] air cargo demand was up 8.3% on 2022 – the strongest year-on-year growth in almost two years,” highlighted IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “That is a doubling of October’s 3.8% increase and a fourth month of positive market development. It is shaping up to be an encouraging year-end for air cargo despite the significant economic concerns that were present throughout 2023 and continue on the horizon.”

International air cargo demand in November was up 8.1%, year-on-year. Compared with the same month in 2019, which was the last November before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, total air cargo demand in November last year was down 2.5%.

Total air cargo capacity rose 13.7%, while international capacity increased 11.6%. The capacity increase was mainly driven by the increase in airliner belly hold capacity, as air passenger traffic continued to recover from the pandemic. Compared with November 2019, capacity last November was up 4.1%.

Air cargo yields (including surcharges) continued a strong rising trend, increasing by 8.9% since October. This was aligned with increasing air cargo load factors, which could partly be the consequence of a boom in e-commerce deliveries from China to Western markets.

The Purchasing Managers’ Indices for both manufacturing output and new export orders remained below the key 50-point mark in November, but both registered slight increases, signalling that the economic downturn was decelerating. On the other hand, global cross-border trade increased, for the third month in a row.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation in the US, European Union and Japan continued to decelerate in November, to about 3% in each case. China recorded CPI deflation for the second consecutive month.

In terms of IATA’s regions, the one that saw the greatest year-on-year increase in cargo demand in November was the Asia-Pacific, at 13.8%, followed closely by the Middle East (13.5%). Europe was in third place, at 6.7%, with Latin America next (4.2%), then Africa (3.9%) and, finally, North America (1.8%).