Global air freight has seen its sixth consecutive month of year-over-year decline, as international and domestic traffic declined by 4 percent in October this year amid economic uncertainty in global markets, according to the latest data released December 2, 2011 by the Airports Council International (ACI).
The Montreal-based ACI said global exporters in Asia experienced sharp declines in total freight, with Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Incheon contracting by 8.2 percent, 9.8 percent, and 8 percent, respectively.
The major North American freight airports all experienced declines in their year-over-year volume. Memphis saw a decline of 1.5 percent, while both Anchorage and Louisville declined by over 5 percent.
Suffering as well is Europe, ACI said, where air freight has dropped by 4.4 percent. Among the major airports in the region, declines were observed in Frankfurt (9.5 percent), Amsterdam (3.8 percent), and London (7.2 percent).
Despite the overall slowdown in global air freight, certain trading blocks in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East are less affected by the risks associated with sovereign debt in developed economies, noted ACI.
In Africa, air freight has posted the greatest gains compared to all other regions, although much of the region’s growth can be attributed to Johannesburg at 8 percent. International freight in key Brazilian airports observed notable double-digit gains. São Paulo and Campinas saw gains of 13.7 and 10.7 percent, respectively. The Middle East saw modest gains with overall growth reaching 2.3 percent.
ACI said global passenger traffic at airports fared much better, growing by over 2 percent year over year in October 2011. Both international and domestic passenger growth remains in positive territory, at 3.3 percent and 1.5 percent respectively, despite the observed risks in global markets.
“Year to date growth for overall passenger traffic has shown resilience at +4.6 percent with international traffic up by over 6 percent. Notwithstanding, the looming risks in major currency markets and economies have not yet affected consumption patterns for air travel,” said Rafael Echevarne, ACI World’s economics director.
“However, traffic in air freight, as a leading indicator, is much more sensitive to pending risks in the business cycle. International trade in air freight has been placed on the back burner until business confidence is revived, particularly with respect to the economies of Europe, Asia and North America. With the remaining fears of a possible Euro break-up, we are likely to observe year over year declines in freight traffic over the months to come.”
