Airfreight volume growth at airports began to slow in April as gains from the US west coast port strikes and the Chinese New Year effect began to tail off.
Figures released by Airports Council International (ACI) show that airports experienced “moderate growth” in April as volumes increased by 3.3% year on year.
The first four months saw an accumulated increase of 4.4% against the same period last year.
The slowed growth in April comes after the upsurge in February due to the Lunar New Year and the modal shift towards air transport resulting from congestion at sea ports along the western coast of the US, ACI said.
It added: “With ongoing concerns in the Euro area and the slowdown across Asian export markets, the slowed growth in April is consistent with weakened global trade volumes.”
Freight volumes in the Asia-Pacific region grew modestly by 2.6%, whereas Europe inched up by only 0.8%.
ACI economics director Rafael Echevarne said: “While passenger traffic remains strong in some key markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, there is growing concern that air freight volumes will become sluggish with respect to future growth prospects.
“The weaker than expected economic performance in the US and the global trade slowdown in Asian markets will inevitably have an unfavourable impact.
“That being said, volumes remain in positive territory in relation to year-over-year growth. We have yet to see how this will play out in the coming months.”
Source: Airports Council International
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