Latin America suffers 25.4pc December decline in air freight

AIR CARGO flying on Latin American airlines fell 25.4 per cent in December year on year, according the figures released by the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association.

The Latin and Caribbean air transport industry carried 3.2 million freight ton kilometres (FTK) of freight in 2008, compared with 3.7 million FTK in 2007, reported Washington, DC's Traffic World. In December the region's airlines carried 253,000 FTK, compared with 339,000 FTK in December of 2007, the report said.

This contrasted with a six per cent full-year gain in passenger traffic for the carriers, including a 1.2 per cent improvement in December, but cargo traffic was down 13.4 per cent said the group.

The association expects a challenging year ahead for the region as the economic slowdown of the rest of the world continues to have a negative impact on the Latin America and Caribbean region.

Source: Transportweekly