Air cargo continues growth streak with strong gains across key regions

- The global goods trade rose by 4% year-on-year in July.

- Jet fuel prices were down by 6.4% compared to August last year, continuing a fourteen-month streak of declines.

- Manufacturing sentiment improved globally with the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) reaching its highest point since June 2024 at 51.75; however, new export orders remained cautious at below-50 levels due to ongoing tariff uncertainties.

Regional performance varied widely:

- Airlines in Africa posted the strongest gains with an 11% rise in demand and a 12.3% increase in capacity.

- Asia-Pacific carriers experienced a 9.8% jump in demand and a 6.9% increase in capacity.

- European airlines saw moderate increases of 3.2% in demand and 4.2% in capacity.

- Latin American carriers recorded a smaller rise of 2.1%, while their capacity grew by 5%.

- Middle Eastern airlines reported a demand increase of 2.7%, with capacity up by 4.3%.

- North American carriers faced a decline: air cargo demand dropped by 2.1%, and capacity fell by 1%.

On major trade corridors, volumes between Europe and Asia as well as within Asia showed double-digit growth rates—13% and 12.4%, respectively—while Middle East–Asia and Africa–Asia lanes also performed strongly with increases over seven percent each.

By contrast, air freight volumes declined on routes such as Asia-North America (down by -2.2%), Middle East-Europe (-0.8%), and within Europe (-0.9%). The Asia-North America corridor marked its fourth straight month of contraction.

According to IATA data for market share based on full-year figures from last year, the largest corridors remain Asia-North America (24.4%) and Europe-Asia (20.5%).