Air traffic data for 2012 has been released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showing a 1.5% fall for cargo compared to the 2011 figures.

Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general and CEO, says:“The industry suffered a one-two punch. World trade declined sharply. And the goods that were traded shifted towards bulk commodities more suited for sea shipping. The outstanding bright spot was the development of trade between Asia and Africa, which supported strong growth for airlines based in the Middle East (14.7%) and Africa (7.1%).”

Figures

•    Asia-Pacific airlines (the largest players in the air cargo market) reported a 5.5% decline in demand and cut capacity by 2.4%. As the world’s major manufacturing centre, the region suffered from the slowdown in demand from Western markets. The freight load factor, although remaining the highest of all regions at 56.1%, fell more sharply than anywhere else, hurting cargo profitability.

•    European and North American carriers also saw falls in freight demand of 2.9% and 0.5%, respectively. European carriers increased their capacity by 0.3%, which led to the load factor falling to 47.2%. North American carriers managed to reduce capacity by 2.0%, ahead of the fall in demand, but they still left the region’s freight load factor at 35.0%, the second weakest of any region.

•   Latin American airlines saw freight demand decline by 1.2%, but capacity grew 4.9% over the year, leaving the load factor to fall to 38.3%.

•    African and Middle East carriers were beneficiaries of new trade lanes and developing trade links between the two regions. Freight demand grew by 7.1% and 14.7%, respectively, both improvements on 2011 when the Middle East expanded 8.2% and Africa declined by 2.1%. The Middle East had the fastest capacity expansion of any freight region (11.4%) but the load factor still improved to 44.8%. Africa’s freight capacity grew 9.2%, outstripping demand. The freight load factor fell to just 24.7%, the lowest of any region by a significant margin.

2013

Adds Tyler:“We are entering 2013 with some guarded optimism. Business confidence is up. The eurozone situation is more stable than it was a yearago and the US avoided the fiscal cliff. Significant headwinds remain. There is no end in sight for high fuel prices and GDP growth is projected at just 2.3%. But improved business confidence should help cargo markets to recover the lost ground from 2012. And the momentum built-up at the year-end should see the passenger business expand close to the 5% historical growth trend. 2013 will not be a banner year for profitability, but we should see some improvement on 2012.”

In its December outlook for 2013, IATA projected that the year would see 1.4% growth for cargo demand. That will contribute to an improvement in profitability from US$6.7 billion (R60.6 billion) (1.0% net profit margin) in 2012 to US$8.4 billion (1.3% net profit margin) in 2013.