Despite weak cargo numbers all around, July freight volumes grew significantly for Middle East and Latin American carriers, International Air Transport Association data revealed. Rising a respective 8.4 percent and 8.2 percent, these numbers deviate greatly from the 0.4-percent freight decrease reported throughout the industry.

Asia-Pacific airlines posted the biggest losses in July. Cargo volumes for these carriers fell 3.6 percent from 2010, driven largely by the residual effects of March's tsunami and earthquake in Japan. The "general economic gloom" also contributed to this decline, an IATA spokesman asserted.

Although international airfreight markets outperformed domestic sectors in July, the difference was marginal. Improving one percentage point from the beginning of the year, global cargo volumes were only 3-percent higher than pre-recession levels; they also plummeted 5 percent from their early-2010 peak.

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