The 'almost covert' nascent airfreight market recovery

© Andrii Yalanskyi

In 2021, as the world began to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, air cargo traffic boomed, growing nearly 19% that year over depressed year 2020 traffic volumes, bolstered by both e-commerce and severe disruption in containership-supported supply chains.

However, year-on-year air cargo traffic (measured in tonnes enplaned, multiplied by km flown) began to contract in March 2022, due to several factors, including the Russia-Ukraine war, inflation, and China’s “zero-Covid” policy.

Full-year 2022 air cargo traffic fell 8.1%, and continued to fall until ...