The global representative body of the airline industry, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has reported that air cargo markets in June this year were “healthy and stable”. Although global air cargo demand in June was 6.4% down, in year-on-year (y-o-y) terms, this was an improvement on the 8.3% y-o-y fall recorded in May. (Regarding international air cargo operations, demand in June fell 6.6%, y-o-y.)

For the first semester of this year, global air cargo demand was 4.3% less than during the same period last year. However, it was 2.2% higher than in the last equivalent period before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, which was the first half of 2019.

“Air cargo demand over the first half of 2022 was 2.2% above pre-Covid levels (first half of 2019),” highlighted IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “That’s a strong performance, particularly considering continuing supply chain constraints and the loss of capacity due to the war in Ukraine. Current economic uncertainties have had little impact on demand for air cargo, but developments will need to be closely monitored in the second half.”

Global air cargo capacity in June was up 6.7% in y-o-y terms, with international capacity rising by 9.4% over the same period. For the first half of the year, and again y-o-y, total air cargo capacity rose 4.5% while international capacity increased by 5.7%. Compared to the first half of 2019, global air cargo capacity during the first semester of this year was up by 2.5%

By far the strongest regional y-o-y performance in June was delivered by Latin America, with a jump in demand of 19.6%; Africa was in second place, with an increase of 5.7%. Both Latin American and African carriers have shown their optimism by introducing additional air cargo capacity.

All other regions recorded y-o-y declines. The lowest decline was recorded in the Asia-Pacific, of just 2.1%. Next came North America, with a fall of 6.3%; and then the Middle East, which registered a drop of 10.8%.

Finally, Europe, which was the worst performing of the IATA regions, contracted 13.5%. Yet Europe’s performance in June was a slight improvement on its y-o-y performance in May. The main cause for this region’s poor performance was the war in Ukraine.