Huge variations & decline in global air cargo in Q1, 2023: WorldACD

Global air cargo chargeable weight flown in the first quarter of 2023 ended up -11 per cent compared to Q12022. “But a deep-dive into WorldACD’s data reveals that behind those figures there is a tremendous amount of variation globally, depending on factors such as origin point or region, product type, shipment weight, and whether cargo was flown via freighter or passenger belly capacity,” said release. The overall tonnage performance of the different main origin regions ranges from a +1 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in volumes originating from Africa and from Central & South America (C&S America) to -18 percent from North America and -16 percent from Asia Pacific with Europe at -5 percent and Middle East & South Asia (MESA) closer to the average at -8 percent, the report said. Breaking down those origin figures further reveals that the 16 percent drop from Asia Pacific includes a 24 percent decline in intra-Asia traffic and a 21 percent fall in traffic to North America, and more-modest declines to Europe (-10 percent) and Africa (-9 percent) despite a capacity rise of +7 percent ex-Asia Pacific. The total also hides a 30 percent rise in traffic ex-Asia Pacific to C&S America and a nine percent rise to MESA.