Passenger and Cargo Demand Shows Decline in August

Despite showing positive trends during July, global air passenger demand was down 1.1% and freight demand fell by 9.6% in August 2009 in comparison to last year.

According to data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a few regions did show signs of improvement.

Passenger demand for Asia-Pacific carriers improved from -7.6% in July to -1.6% in August 2009, while North American carriers showed an improvement from -3.2% in July to -2.5% in August.

Middle Eastern carriers showed a marked improvement with a year on year growth of 10.8%, but the rise remains below the 13.2% growth in July.

Latin American carriers improved from -3.5% in July to -2.3% in August, while African carriers posted the lowest demand at -4.9% in August, compared to -5.5% in July.

European carriers saw a decline of 2.8% compared to August 2008.

Freight demand improved with Latin American and the Middle Eastern carriers reported growth of 3.9% and 3%, respectively.

An average passenger growth of 4% for 2010 has been predicted by IATA, which also expect a full-year decline of almost 5% in 2009.

IATA has also predicted an average international freight growth of 5.5% in 2010, compared to an expected full-year decline of 14.5% in 2009.