The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for January 2024 global air cargo markets, indicating a strong start to 2024.

Total demand — measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs) — increased by 18.4% compared to January 2023 levels (19.8% for international operations).

IATA said this significant upturn marks the "highest annual growth" in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs) since the summer season of 2021.

Capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometres (ACTKs), was up 14.6% compared to January 2023 (18.2% for international operations).

IATA said this was largely related to the growth in belly capacity.

For January,  international belly capacity rose 25.8% year-on-year (YoY) on the strength of passenger markets.

"Air cargo demand was up 18.4% year-on-year in January. This is a strong start to the year. In particular, the booming e-commerce sector is continuing to help air cargo demand to trend above growth in both trade and production since the last quarter of 2023," said Willie Walsh, director general at IATA.

"The counterweight to this good news is uncertainty over how China's economic slowdown will unfold. This will be on the minds of air cargo executives meeting in Hong Kong next week for the IATA World Cargo Symposium with an agenda focused on digitalization, efficiency and sustainability," Walsh added.

IATA noted that for the period, air cargo growth outpaced trade and production.

January regional performance

 [Source: IATA]

In January, Asia-Pacific airlines saw their air cargo volumes increase by 24.6% YoY. This performance was also above the previous month (+18.5%). IATA said carriers in the region benefited from ongoing growth in international CTKs on three major trade lanes: Africa-Asia (+52.5%), Middle East-Asia (+29.5%) and Europe-Asia (+27.5%).

North American carriers had the weakest performance of all regions in January, with a 9.3% increase (YoY) in cargo volumes — though an improvement compared to December (2.0%).

European carriers saw their air cargo volumes increase by 16.4% during the period compared to the same 2023 level. IATA said this was a stronger performance than in December (+8.6%) as carriers in the region benefitted from the strong growth in international CTKs in the Europe market (+18.4%) and the Europe – Asia route (+27.5%).

Middle Eastern carriers had the strongest performance in January 2024, with a 25.9% year-on-year increase in cargo volumes.IATA said carriers in the region benefited from growth in the Middle East–Asia (+29.5%) and Middle East–Europe markets (+46.1%). 

Meanwhile, Latin American carriers experienced a 13.4% increase in cargo volumes YoY, a notable increase compared to the previous month's gain (+6.4%).

African airlines saw their air cargo volumes increase by 17.0% in January 2024, much improved compared to December's performance (-1.2%).

IATA said carriers in the region benefitted from strong growth on the Africa-Asia trade lane.