Air cargo demand up 12% in April from pre-Covid levels

Global air cargo demand rose 12% in April compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019, led by a strong performance in North America, industry data revealed on Tuesday.

Capacity remained 9.7% below pre-Covid-19 levels due to the ongoing grounding of passenger aircraft as travel restrictions remained in force, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

“Airlines continue to use dedicated freighters to plug the lack of available belly capacity. International capacity from dedicated freighters rose 26.2% in April 2021 compared to the same month in 2019, while belly-cargo capacity dropped by 38.5%,” IATA said in a statement.

Companies and industry bodies have started using 2019 as baseline comparisons given 2020 figures are distorted by the impact of the pandemic.

Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs), was up 12% compared to April 2019 and 7.8% compared to March 2021. Seasonally adjusted demand is now 5% higher than the pre-crisis August 2018 peak, IATA said, adding that the Middle East and Africa had also performed strongly but Latin America growth had stalled.

The strong performance was led by North American carriers contributing 7.5 percentage points to the April growth rate.

“Competitiveness against sea shipping has improved. Air cargo rates have stabilised since reaching a peak in April 2020, while shipping container rates have remain relatively high in comparison. Meanwhile, longer supplier delivery times as economic activity ramps up make the speed of air cargo an advantage by recovering some of the time lost in the production process,” IATA said.