Air cargo market witness rates falling by 40% in May

According to latest weekly market analysis by CLIVE Data Services, part of Xeneta, Tension is mounting in the global air cargo market heading into the weaker summer months with general airfreight rates falling in May by 40 per cent to their lowest level since March 2020 as restless airlines and freight forwarders went in search of volumes. The global airfreight spot rate fell 40 per cent in May from a year earlier, reaching its lowest level in over three years of $2.41 per kg, just days after IATA predicted airline cargo revenues and yields could fall by more than 31 and 29 percent respectively in 2023.
Softening global air cargo demand saw a less severe year-over-year drop of -1 percent in chargeable weight in May, the smallest monthly decline in the past 12 months, but the influx of belly capacity for the peak summer leisure travel market applied more downward pressure on rates. Global air cargo capacity in May continued its double-digit increase, up 14 percent year-on-year. Less demand and more capacity led to an inevitable fall in dynamic loadfactor, CLIVE’s measurement of global volume and weight perspectives of cargo flown and capacity available. It was -5 percent pts lower vs. May 2022 at 55 percent.