Global air freight markets show volumes in decline by 1.3 per cent in November 2015, thereby removing the optimism from the first half of the year, said the Airports Council International in releasing its monthly statistics. The continuing lethargy on the cargo side contrasted sharply with the passenger figures which sowed a global growth of 6.2 per cent. In the last four months, air freight plunged into the negative territory twice—in August (-0.4 per cent) and in November (-1.3 per cent). This reflects the slowdown of the Chinese economy and uncertainty in the commodity exporting countries.
Out of the ten largest freight markets, seven reported freight declines in November. Weak freight growth in China and India (+2.1 and +3.2 per cent respectively) was not enough to offset freight declines in the major markets, including the US (-1.9 per cent), Japan (-3.7 per cent), Hong Kong (-3.1 per cent), Germany (-2.0 per cent) and Korea (-2.7 per cent).
Weak freight traffic growth is most pronounced in Latin America-Caribbean, with Brazil posting an alarming 17.6 per cent decline in freight volumes in November and a 9.0 per cent decline on a year-to-date basis.
In Europe, the results for the four largest cargo hubs are mixed. While Frankfurt (FRA) and London-Heathrow (LHR) reported freight declines of 4.3 and 3.1 respectively, Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Amsterdam (AMS) posted modest 3.1 and 1.3 per cent growth respectively.
A similar picture is observed in Asia-Pacific, where seven out of the ten largest freight hubs reported freight volume declines with the exception of Beijing (PEK), Singapore (SIN) and Guangzhou (CAN), which stayed in the positive territory with modest 2.8, 2.6 and 4.7 per cent growth rates respectively for the month of November.
In North America, the freight traffic slowdown is most pronounced at Anchorage (ANC), Chicago-O’Hare (ORD) and New York (JFK), with the airports posting declines of 5.1, 8.3 and 10.4 per cent respectively. The two major freight hubs, Memphis (MEM) and Louisville (SDF), reported slight declines as well—drops of 0.9 and 0.2 per cent respectively.
In the Middle East, the 0.5 per cent decline in total freight is attributed to the drop in volumes at some of the major airports, which include Dubai-World Central (DWC, -2.6 per cent), Abu Dhabi (AUH, -7.2 per cent), Bahrain (BAH, -12.8 per cent) and Sharjah (SHJ, -10 per cent). On the other hand, Dubai (DXB) and Tel-Aviv (TLV) remained in the positive territory with 3.8 and 1.8 per cent growth rates for the month of November.
