Upward momentum in FTKs stalls in 2016, says IATA

© Alexander Makarov

I’m not sure we needed yet more certainty that the air freight market is in the doldrums – but we have it anyway. IATA is the last to report figures for May – and FTKs are up a dull 0.9%, while ATKs rose 4.9%. But most at fault is not capacity, but weakness in world trade volumes, which account for 80% of air freight’s gloom, apparently. The best growth market, boosted by stronger German exports, was Europe – up 4.5% in volumes and 5.7% in capacity. The Middle East was up 3.2% in demand – which was only 20% of last year’s growth – and a heady 9.5% capacity. The worst shrinkage was in Latin America, where demand fell 9.7%, and capacity fell 7%.