War in Ukraine and Omicron weighing on air cargo
The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has released March 2022 data for global air cargo markets showing a drop in demand. The effects of Omicron in Asia, the Russia – Ukraine war and a challenging operating backdrop contributed to the decline.
Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs), fell by 5.2% compared to March 2021 (-5.4% for international operations). Capacity was 1.2% above March 2021 (+2.6% for international operations). While this is in positive territory, it is a significant decline from the 11.2% year-on-year increase in February.
Asia and Europe experienced the largest falls in capacity. New export orders are now shrinking in all markets except USA. The PMI indicator tracking global new export orders fell to 48.2 in March. This was the lowest since July 2020. (cj)