European airlines saw their cargo volumes fell 20.7 per cent in June compared to last year, according to the Association of European Airlines (AEA). The association also noted an accelerating decline in European air trade with Asia Far East and Australasia, with traffic falling 24.9 per cent compared to a year ago.

Freight traffic for the first six months this year was down 22.1 per cent for the European airlines, including a 27.1 per cent drop in Asia trade compared to the first half of 2008.

Although all carriers of significant scale posted double-digit declines, Scandinavian Airline System posted the largest drop among major airlines, a 48.1 per cent decline in June that left SAS freight traffic down 44.4 per cent in the first half of the year.