In IATA's most recent airfreight market analysis, August saw weak overall air cargo traffic growth - just 0.2 percent, year-over-year - measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs). Regionally, the results swung from 10.4 percent growth, y-o-y, in the Middle East to a 7.3 percent, y-o-y, decline among Latin American carriers.
Looking at the year to date, IATA said worldwide air cargo traffic rose 2.6 percent in the first eight months, led by a 2.9 percent growth in international traffic and just 0.5 percent domestic growth. Most of the year-to-date growth recorded, IATA said, came in the first two months of the year, during the U.S. West Coast port crisis and the massive automobile recall. Minus those two events, underlying growth has been tepid for most of the year, IATA said.
