The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that global air cargo demand continued to outperform pre-coronavirus levels in April, with demand increasing 12% compared to April 2019.

Demand during that month also increased 7.8% compared to March 2021 and seasonally adjusted demand is now up 5% from the pre-pandemic peak in August 201

IATA noted that the strong performance was led by North American carriers contributing 7.5 percentage points to the 12% growth rate in April and airlines in all other regions except for Latin America also supported the growth.  

Increased freighter usage

In its report, IATA said capacity, however, remained 9.7% below pre-Covid 19 levels (April 2019) due to the ongoing grounding of passenger aircraft.

IATA noted that during the period, airlines continue to use dedicated freighters to plug the lack of available belly capacity as international capacity from dedicated freighters rose 26.2% in April 2021 compared to the same month in 2019, while belly-cargo capacity dropped by 38.5%.

IATA further said that "underlying economic conditions and favorable supply chain dynamics remain supportive for air cargo" with global trade rising 4.2% in March. 

The release also noted how the competitiveness of the air freight sector against sea shipping has improved.

IATA further said that air cargo rates have stabilized since reaching a peak in April 2020, while shipping container rates have remained relatively high in comparison. Meanwhile, longer supplier delivery times as economic activity ramps up make the speed of air cargo an advantage by recovering some of the time lost in the production process.

Good news for the sector

"Air cargo continues to be the good news story for the air transport sector. Demand is up 12% on pre-crisis levels and yields are solid. Some regions are outperforming the global trend, most notably carriers in North America, the Middle East, and Africa," said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director-General.   

"Strong air cargo performance, however, is not universal. The recovery for carriers in the Latin American region, for example, is stalled," he added. 

 Mixed performance per region

IATA said despite the continued recovery in air cargo demand, the pace varies across the region. 

In Asia-Pacific, it said airlines saw demand for international air cargo increase 9.2% in April 2021 compared to the same month in 2019  although international capacity remained constrained in the region, down 18.7%.

"This was a significant improvement in performance compared to the previous month ... as was also the case in March, the region’s airlines reported the highest international load factor at 77.5%," IATA said.

For North American carriers, IATA said international demand in April rose 25.6% compared to the same month in 2019.IATA noted that this "strong performance" reflects the appetite of US consumers for products manufactured in Asia.

"North American carriers have also been able to grow their market share, notably on routes between North and South America, owing to the large freighter fleets they have available. International capacity grew by 5.5% compared with April 2019," it added.

European carriers posted an 11.4% increase in demand compared to the same month in 2019. This was a significant improvement compared to the previous month. Improved operating conditions and recovering export orders contributed to the positive performance. However, international capacity decreased by 17.5% in April 2021.

IATA said Middle Eastern carriers also posted a 15.3% rise in international cargo volumes last April, versus the figures seen in April 2019. It said this was "a significant improvement" compared to March 

Decline recorded in Latin America

Meanwhile, IATA reported that Latin American carriers and African airlines saw cargo volumes drop during the period.

Latin America saw a decline of 32.7% in international cargo volumes in April compared to the 2019 period which IATA said was "the worst performance" of all regions and a decline in performance compared to the previous month.

"Drivers of air cargo demand in Latin America remain relatively less supportive than in the other regions, and airlines in the region have lost market share to other carriers due to financial restructuring," it said.

Despite this, volumes on several routes in the region (such as Europe and Central America, and North and South America) performed well — as international capacity decreased 52.5%.

African airlines’ cargo demand in April increased 30.6% compared to the same month in 2019, which IATA noted was "the strongest of all regions" and the fourth consecutive month of growth at or above 25% compared to 2019.

It said robust expansion on the Asia-Africa trade lanes contributed to the strong growth as April's international capacity increased by 0.6% compared to the April 2019 period.