text: Global air cargo demand down 3.3% in January 2020 | Al Sham
  Global air cargo demand down 3.3% in January 2020
  Syria, March 5, 2020
  GENEVA, 4th March, 2020 (WAM) -- The International Air Transport Association, IATA, released data for global air freight markets showing that demand, measured in cargo tonne kilometres, CTKs, decreased by 3.3 percent in January 2020, compared to the same period in 2019.
  Commenting on the results, IATA's Director-General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, said, 'January marked the tenth consecutive month of year-on-year declines in cargo volumes.'
  The air cargo industry started the year on a weak footing, he explained, adding that there was optimism that an easing of US-China trade tensions would give the sector a boost in 2020.
  'But that has been overtaken by the COVID-19 outbreak, which has severely disrupted global supply chains, although it did not have a major impact on January's cargo performance. Tough times are ahead. The course of future events is unclear, but this is a sector that has proven its resilience time and again,' De Juniac noted.
  Cargo capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometres, ACTKs, rose by 0.9 percent year-on-year in January 2020.
  It is unlikely that the COVID-19 outbreak had very much to do with January's weak performance.
  Middle Eastern airlines' cargo volumes decreased 1.4 percent in January 2020 compared to the year-ago period, while capacity increased by 2.9 percent.
  Against a backdrop of operational and geopolitical challenges facing some of the region's key airlines, seasonally-adjusted freight volumes ticked down in January, but a modest upwards trend has been sustained.
  However, IATA noted that given the Middle East's position connecting trade between China and the rest of the world, the region's carriers have significant exposure to the impact of COVID-19 in the period ahead.