October global air cargo grows first time since July 2008

AIRPORTS Council International (ACI), representing world airport operators, has announced that total global air cargo traffic increased by 1.3 per cent in October year on year, with freight up 1.4 per cent and domestic freight up 2.2 per cent, the group's monthly FreightFlash report.

"The black ink in all three freight categories is the best traffic news of the month. This mirrors the 'down-flat-up' curve we have seen in passenger traffic over the past few months," said ACI director general Angela Gittens.

"This is not a sharp turning point, and even if positive growth continues in November and December, we are still likely to see a negative overall result for 2009 of about 10 per cent," she said.

For the first 10 months of the year, total air freight declined by 12 per cent, with international freight down by 15 per cent and domestic freight by six per cent, compared to the same period in 2008.

The ACI statement said that passenger traffic continues to improve, with airports seeing an increase of 1.8 per cent in total global traffic in October, including a 3.5 per cent increase in domestic traffic and a slight decrease of 0.2 per cent in international traffic, compared to the same month last year.

It said that positive passenger traffic results in October were bolstered by improved results in Europe and North America, while Latin America-Caribbean airports registered domestic growth of 26 per cent.

"Continuing growth in Asia Pacific and Middle East markets also contributed to the improving overall results, although slightly below strong September results. African traffic remains slightly lower than monthly growth levels recorded in September," the ACI added in its PaxFlash report.

Source: www.schednet.com