The air cargo industry had a record October despite volumes from Asia to North America continuing to decline.
The latest figures from IATA show that demand in cargo tonne km terms (CTK) in October increased by 4.1% year on year, while capacity was up by 5.1% and the cargo load factor was down 0.5 percentage points to 47.1%.
The increase marked eight consecutive months of growth, IATA director general Willie Walsh said, but not all trade lanes registered increases, with US tariffs continuing to impact demand levels on Asia-North America flights.
“While the Asia-North America trade lane extended its contraction to six months, October saw double-digit or near double-digit growth within Asia, between the Middle East and Europe, and between Europe and Asia,” Walsh said.
“This shifting growth pattern shows that air cargo is enabling global supply chains to adapt to the impact of US tariffs. This positive news is especially significant as the air cargo sector enters the peak fourth quarter shipping season.”
Trade lane figures show that the Asia-North America trade saw demand fall 1.4% year on year in October.
Meanwhile, Europe-Asia was up 11.7% compared with last year, within-Asia improved 9% and Middle East-Asia was up 11.5%.
In terms of airline performance, North American carriers’ cargo traffic was down 2.7% year on year in October, Asian airlines experienced an 8.3% increase, European carriers saw a 4.3% year-on-year increase, Middle Eastern carriers were up 5.7%, there was a 2.7% improvement at Latin American carriers and African airlines enjoyed a bumper 16.6% year-on-year increase.
IATA added that global manufacturing sentiment strengthened slightly in October, with the PMI rising for the third consecutive month to reach 51.45.
“New export orders deteriorated slightly to 48.31, remaining below the 50-point expansion threshold, reflecting ongoing caution amid tariff uncertainty,” the airline association said.