African airlines recorded the strongest performance in July, with a 2.9 percent increase in cargo volumes compared with the same period last year, data from Air Transport Association (IATA) shows.
The impressive performance was boosted by the Africa–Asia routes, which experienced significant cargo demand growth at 10.3 percent with the capacity standing at 11 percent above July 2022 levels.
In the review period, Africa accounted for two percent of the total global air cargo market, highlighting significant growth in the cargo business.
Asia-Pacific airlines saw their air cargo volumes increase by 2.7 percent in the review period compared to the same month last year, a significant improvement in performance compared to June’s 3.3 percent.
Carriers in the region benefited from growth in three major trade lanes-Europe-Asia, Middle East-Asia and Africa-Asia.
North American carriers posted the weakest performance of all regions, with a 5.2 percent decrease in cargo volumes in July 2023 compared to the same month in 2022, marking the fifth consecutive month in which the region had the weakest performance.
It was, however, a slight improvement compared to June (-5.9 percent). The transatlantic route between North America and Europe saw traffic declining by 4.3 percent in July, 1.2 percentage points worse than the previous month.
European carriers saw their air cargo volumes decline by 1.5 percent in July compared to the same month in 2022. This was, however, an improvement in performance versus June (-3.2 percent).
Middle Eastern carriers experienced a 1.5 percent year-on-year increase in cargo volumes in the review period, which was an improvement to the previous month’s performance (0.6 percent).
The demand on Middle East–Asia routes has been trending upward in the past two months with the capacity increasing 17.1 percent compared to July 2022.
Latin American carriers posted a marginal 0.4 percent increase in cargo volumes compared to July 2022. This was a drop in performance compared to the previous month (2.2 percent).