Air freight market suffered from a global decline in December 2018

Global passenger traffic grew by 4.8 per cent but this year-over-year figure was below the preliminary year-end result of 5.9 per cent, continuing a moderation trend started in the latter half of 2018.

In the global air freight market, global year-over-year volumes fell 1.5 per cent when compared to December 2017 which meant the year-end growth figure for 2018 was 3.3 per cent.

ACI collects and analyses data from a significant sample of airports that provide regular reports on month-by-month passenger and freight statistics; this forms part of the world’s most comprehensive source for airport data.

ACI World Director General, Angela Gittens, said: “While global passenger traffic growth has moderated and is not of the same magnitude as in 2017, it has remained fairly robust overall for most of 2018. The decline in freight need also to be examined in the context of the increasing geopolitical instability and ongoing protectionism that has affected global traffic and trade. Industry performance in 2019 remains very uncertain as trade wars persist, the United Kingdom continues to work to exit the European Union, and relationships in key markets in the Middle East and China threaten to cast a pall on the global outlook.”

Passenger traffic

The international passenger market continued to outperform its domestic counterpart in December, posting 6.3 per cent growth on a year-over-year basis. The domestic segment showed higher volatility, with 3.8 per cent in year-over-year growth.

In the major regional markets, Europe’s success continued, posting 6.3 per cent growth for the month. As with the global industry, the region’s growth was mainly fuelled by the strength of its international segment, which grew 7.6 per cent in December. Its domestic market stood at more moderate levels, with 3.1 per cent. North America and Asia-Pacific posted comparable growth rates, at 3.9 per cent and 3.8 per cent respectively on a year-over-year basis. Here again, international passengers fuelled the major part of industry growth in both regions.

Africa posted the highest growth rate of all regions in December, with 9.8 per cent. Latin America-Caribbean followed with a 6.3 per cent increase, the only region having benefited from an upsurge during the month. The Middle East, still experiencing the effects of multiple geopolitical challenges, grew by 2 per cent in December.

Freight volumes

Nearly all regions posted declines in freight volumes in December, bringing year-over-year growth to -1.5 per cent during the month. Here again, Africa bucked the trend, growing by 18.7 per cent for the period. No segment posted robust results, with the international market losing 1.7 per cent and the domestic market 1 per cent.

In line with the importance of domestic freight in its market, North America weathered the storm better than Europe and Asia-Pacific. The former declined by 1.2 per cent in December, against losses of 2.5 per cent for the two other regions.

Latin America-Caribbean and the Middle East declined by 0.8 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively. Though this marked a continuation of a challenging trend for the Middle East in 2018, it was a major shift for the former.