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Air cargo suffers in light of global events: IATA

Post By : Rachayita Sidharth

Post Date : May 4, 2022

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released air cargo data for March 2022 on 3rd May. The data suggested that global events like Omicron’s impact in Asia along with the Russia-Ukraine war and challenging operating backdrop has let to a decline in demand for air cargo. The data was presented on year-on-year basis and showed that the demand had dwindled even below pre-COVID levels and the capacity remains constrained.

Air cargo markets mirror global economic developments. In March, the trading environment took a turn for the worse. The combination of war in Ukraine and the spread of the Omicron variant in Asia have led to rising energy costs, exacerbated supply chain disruptions, and fed inflationary pressure. Peace in Ukraine and a shift in China’s COVID-19 policy would do much to ease the industry’s headwinds.”

Willie Walsh, IATA Director General

Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), fell 5.2% compared to March 2021 (-5.4% for international operations).

Capacity was 1.2% above March 2021 (+2.6% for international operations). While this is in positive territory, it is a significant decline from the 11.2% year-on-year increase in February. Asia and Europe experienced the largest falls in capacity.

Several factors in the operating environment should be noted:

The war in Ukraine led to a fall in cargo capacity used to serve Europe as several airlines based in Russia and Ukraine were key cargo players. Sanctions against Russia led to disruptions in manufacturing. And rising oil prices are having a negative economic impact, including raising costs for shipping.

New export orders, a leading indicator of cargo demand, are now shrinking in all markets except the US. The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) indicator tracking global new export orders fell to 48.2 in March. This was the lowest since July 2020.

Global goods trade has continued to decline in 2022, with China’s economy growing more slowly because of COVID-19 related lockdowns (among other factors); and supply chain disruptions amplified by the war in Ukraine.

General consumer price inflation for the G7 countries was at 6.3% year-on-year in February 2022, the highest since 1982.

Considering that, in the near future, there isn’t going to be leniency in COVID-19 restrictions and neither can we expect peace in Ukraine anytime soon, there can be a growth in the challenges air cargo is already up against. This is in light of the recovering passenger markets.

The IATA air cargo analysis showed that the inventory restocking cycle that had started during

the initial rebound from the pandemic in late-2020, and that led to businesses turning to air freight to rapidly meet demand, looks to have come to an end. Typically, such cycles are associated with over-performance of air cargo relative to other modes. Along with this, the sanctions against Russia have put a stop to the manufacturing activity around the world, which again contributes to a decline in the export orders in Q1 2022 (Germany, Japan, Korea). China being one of the major hubs for manufacturing activity, a decline in export orders means another hurdle in air cargo demand.

IATA also shared the regional performance of air carriers for the month of March 2022:

Asia-Pacific airlines saw their air cargo volumes decrease by 5.1% in March 2022 compared to the same month in 2021. Available capacity in the region fell 6.4% compared to March 2021, the largest drop of all regions. The zero-COVID policy in mainland China and Hong Kong is impacting performance.

North American carriers posted a 0.7% decrease in cargo volumes in March 2022 compared to March 2021. Demand in the Asia-North America market declined significantly, with seasonally adjusted volumes falling by 9.2% in March.  Capacity was up 6.7% compared to March 2021.

European carriers saw a 11.1% decrease in cargo volumes in March 2022 compared to the same month in 2021. This was the weakest of all regions. The Within Europe market fell significantly, down 19.7% month on month.  This is attributable to the war in Ukraine. Labor shortages and lower manufacturing activity in Asia due to Omicron also affected demand. Capacity fell 4.9% in March 2022 compared to March 2021. 

Middle Eastern carriers experienced a 9.7% year-on-year decrease in cargo volumes in March. Significant benefits from traffic being redirected to avoid flying over Russia failed to materialize. This is likely due to subdued demand overall. Capacity was up 5.3% compared to March 2021.

Latin American carriers reported an increase of 22.1% in cargo volumes in March 2022 compared to the 2021 period. This was the strongest performance of all regions. Some of the largest airlines in the region are benefitting from the end of bankruptcy protection. Capacity in March was up 34.9% compared to the same month in 2021.

African airlines saw cargo volumes increase by 3.1% in March 2022 compared to March 2021. Capacity was 8.7% above March 2021 levels.

Read the full report here: https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/publications/economic-reports/air-freight-monthly-analysis—march-2022/

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