Global air cargo growth will slow sharply over the next year and a half after staging a stunningly rapid recovery from the international trade downturn, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in its recent Cargo E-Chartbook. International air cargo traffic, which has been growing at more than 20 per cent year-over-year each month since the end of the third quarter last year, was 4 per cent ahead of the pre-downturn peak of 2008 in July, IATA said. IATA now forecasts air freight will grow 6 to 7 per cent year-over-year in 2010 and 2011. “Growth has now moved into a slower phase, more evenly spread across markets, but remains above trend,” it said. “The surge in air freight in Asia and South America is now slowing, while trade across the Atlantic and from Europe to Asia is now catching up.” The recovery in freight volume from the lows of end-2008 has been fairly equally spread between freighters and passenger aircraft. Both are now above the early 2008 peak with freighter traffic up 8 per cent and cargo carried in the bellies of passenger planes up 9 per cent.