IATA concedes first quarter was weak, but says year will get better

INTERNATIONAL freight decline of 2.3 per cent in the first three months of 2013, on a 0.3 per cent drop in capacity, is a "temporary stall", said the International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general and CEO Tony Tyler, former CEO of Hong Kong Cathay Pacific.

Despite the decline seen in March results the growing business confidence and gathering export orders in 2013 will revive air freight trade. "The fundamentals for a sustained improvement in air cargo volumes are in place," he said.

The Middle East is the only region to see cargo activity grow at 10.5 per cent in March, 12.4 per cent during the first quarter against capacity uptick in March of 9.1 per cent.

In other regions cargo activity decline was pitted against giants capacity additions although Africa increased 3.2 per cent while its capacity shot up by 10 per cent to cancel out gains.

Europe and North America declined in the month of March. North America suffered poor exports to Europe at 5.2 per cent at a 2.7 per cent reduction in capacity while Europe's cargo was at four per cent alongside an increase of capacity at 0.4 per cent.

Asia-Pacific recorded a cargo demand decrease of three per cent since January with capacity down at 2.8 per cent in March alone. For Latin American carriers, capacity increased at 2.6 per cent against the smallest decrease in demand at 0.8 per cent.