Air freight grows just 2.2% in 2015 – get used to it, warns IATA

Air freight growth slowed to just 2.2% in 2015, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

While growth has become marginally better after the decline ‘bottomed out’ last year, Tony Tyler, director general and CEO of IATA, has warned that they do not expect air cargo revenue to exceed $51 billion in 2016, versus the 2011 peak of $67 billion.

“We have to adjust to the ‘new normal’ of cargo growing in line with general rates of economic expansion,” Tyler says, citing shortening global supply chains and increasingly competitive market conditions.

The Middle East saw the biggest growth in 2015, up 11.3% in freight tonne kilometres, while Asia Pacific was up 2.3%, Africa 1.2%, and North America only 0.1%. Europe declined fractionally by 0.1% and Latin America more considerably by 6%.

Load factor, the ratio of average load to aircraft capacity, dropped to 44.1%, down from 45.7% in 2014.

(Source: Air Cargo Week)