Airports Council International (ACI) World has warned that the impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) to air transport could last longer than expected.
In a statement, ACI said while a slow recovery in freight volumes had begun in the last three months of the year, that uptrend will be affected by the ongoing global public health emergency.
“With ongoing trade wars and rising geopolitical tension in the Middle East, the global environment in 2019 was certainly challenging for air transport,” said ACI World Director General Angela Gittens. “Though recovery for the freight industry was starting to emerge in the latter part of the year, we now face a health crisis that could stifle the uptrend and lead us into another volatile year in 2020."
According to ACI, December freight figures, on a year-over-year basis, were relatively encouraging for the freight industry.
Domestic freight saw a surge of six percentage points during the month, up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis bringing the segment’s year-end result to increase by 1.3%. International freight, meanwhile, remained in the negative during the month, posting a decline of 2.1% to close the year down by 4.1%.
“The developing situation may not be a momentary shock to the air transport industry; rather it has the potential to produce a significant shift in this year’s global economic growth trend,” Gittens noted.
Regional traffic
While the Asia Pacific saw the biggest drop, followed by Europe, North America, supported by its strong domestic market, is the best -performing major market in 2019.
The Middle East market, Africa, and Latin America-Caribbean all suffered downtick too due to a weakening international market. “The month’s figures may be showing the calm before the storm,” Gittens noted.
“Though forecasts on global economic growth in 2020 had originally predicted recovery from 2019’s weaker performance, the sudden shock represented by the COVID-19 outbreak could stifle that recovery and prolong the period of downward pressure on the air freight industry,” she added.
