Air cargo market report in February, 2023 has shown that demand rose above pre-pandemic levels. In addition, demand fell by 7.5 per cent, compared to February 2022, an indication of half the rate of annual decline seen in the previous two months.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) which released the data for February 2023 stated that global February demand for air cargo was 2.9 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels.
According to the body, this is the first time that it surpassed pre-pandemic levels in eight months. It added that the strong uptick in Air Cargo Tonne-Kilometres (ACTKs) reflects the addition of belly capacity as the passenger side of the business continues to recover.
Noting that several factors in the operating environment should be observed, the IATA report stated, “The global new export orders component of the manufacturing PMI, a leading indicator of cargo demand, continued to increase in February. China’s PMI level surpassed the critical 50-mark indicating that demand for manufactured goods from the world’s largest export economy is growing”.
“Global goods trade decreased by 1.5 per cent in January; this was a slower rate of decline than the previous month of -3.3 per cent. The Consumer Price Index for G7 countries decreased from 6.7 per cent in January to 6.4 per cent in February. Inflation in producer (input) prices reduced by 2.2 percentage points to 9.6 per cent in December”.
Commenting, Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General said, ”The story of air cargo in February is one of slowing declines. Year-on-year demand fell by 7.5 per cent. That’s half the rate of decline experienced in January. This shifting of gears was sufficient to boost the overall industry into positive territory (+2.9 per cent) compared to pre-pandemic levels. An optimistic eye could see the start of an improvement trend that leads to market stabilization and a return to more normal demand patterns after dramatic ups-and-downs in recent years”.
Nonetheless, African airlines saw cargo volumes decrease by 3.4 per cent in February 2023 compared to February 2022. This, according to IATA was an improvement in performance compared to the previous month (-9.5 per cent). Notably, the Africa to Asia route area experienced significant cargo demand growth in February, up 39.5 per cent year-on-year.
Capacity was 4.7 per cent above February 2022 levels.
In the same vein, IATA has equally disclosed that, there is strong growth in air travel demand, based on February 2023 traffic results.
According to the body, total traffic in February 2023 rose by 55.5 per cent compared to February 2022. Globally, traffic is now at 84.9 per cent of February 2019 levels. Domestic traffic for February rose 25.2 per cent, compared to the year-ago period.
Total February 2023 domestic traffic was at 97.2 per cent of the February 2019 level. International traffic climbed 89.7 per cent versus February 2022 with all markets recording strong growth.
Explaining further, Walsh said, “Despite the uncertain economic signals, demand for air travel continues to be strong across the globe and particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The industry is now just about 15 per cent below 2019 levels of demand and that gap is narrowing each month”.
“People are flying in ever greater numbers. With the Easter and Passover holidays we are expecting large numbers of travelers to take to the skies in many parts of the world. They should do so with confidence that airlines have been rebuilding resiliency that suffered owing to the pandemic. Other participants in the air travel value chain, including airports, air navigation service providers, and airport security staff, need to have the same commitment to ensuring our customers can enjoy smooth holiday travel”, Walsh added.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
