The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines has released preliminary traffic figures for August, showing that, while passenger demand grew, air cargo markets continued to be in decline.

Freight tonne kilometres dropped 0.3% year-on-year, while available capacity increased by 3.3%. This led to an average international freight load factor of 61%, a decrease of 2.2 percentage points compared to the same month last year.

Andrew Herdman, director general of the AAPA, said that the weakness in the air cargo markets reflected a further slowdown in world trade in recent months.

“Overall, however, after accounting for the initial growth spurt earlier this year, air cargo demand has still registered a 3.0% increase for the first eight months of the year,” he said. “Looking ahead, the outlook for air passenger markets remains positive, with competitively priced fares underpinning robust consumer demand. The outlook for air cargo markets is more uncertain, given signs of weakness in global trade activities, but should see some seasonal demand as we move towards the end of the year.”

The AAPA data was collected from 31 carriers based in the Asia-Pacific region.