The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said recently said that just a third of airline heads of cargo expect improving trade volumes in the next 12 months.

In its 3Q2019 Cargo Chartbook,  IATA said after a period of escalation in the trade war between the US and China, only 34% of respondents of the July 2019 Business Confidence Survey expected cargo traffic volumes to increase in the coming twelve months resulting in a strong fall in the weighted score.

In contrast, IATA said 41% of surveyed airlines' heads of cargo were expecting deteriorating cargo yields in the next twelve months, up from the 23% who said so in April 2019.

The aviation association earlier reported that demand for air freight has been dragged down by fall in world trade following a series of tariff increases.

Annual growth in industry-wide air freight kilometres (FTKs) remained negative at -3.8% in the three months ended July – the weakest performance for two consecutive quarters since early-2012.

With freight capacity increasing 1.8% over the same period, the modest downward trend in the load factor has continued.

IATA also said cargo yields including fuel and surcharges continue to ease and are currently 7.8% lower compared to July 2018 levels.