Asia-Pacific carriers were hardest hit by a sluggish air freight market, according to traffic statistics for July this year from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Traffic results from the association showed that freight markets, which reflect economic sentiment more quickly than passenger markets, were stagnating with a 0.4 percent demand decline from July 2010 levels.

The nature of the weakness has changed, IATA said. In 2010, airlines were losing market share to other modes of transport as world trade expanded. Now, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the general economic gloom are the main driving factors of continued weakness.

Asia-Pacific carriers continue to show the weakest freight performance with a 3.6 percent decline compared to July 2010, IATA said.

Middle East and Latin American carriers showed the strongest performance with gains of 8.4 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively.

Freight load factors have declined significantly (1.8 percentage points) to the pre-recession level of 45 percent. Asia-Pacific carriers, the largest in the market, have seen load factors slip to 58.1 percent (from 60.2 percent in July 2010).

“While the region suffers from a major imbalance with strong outward flows of manufactured goods and weak inbound traffic, the scale of their home carrier operations allows for better capacity utilization,” IATA said.

Passenger travel, on the other hand, fared better, posting a 5.9 percent increase over July 2010.

“Passenger travel bucked the gloomy economic outlook with a 5.9 percent increase in July,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general and CEO. “This increase was likely based on the much more optimistic economic outlook that marked the beginning of the year. With business and consumer confidence now tanking, sluggishness in international trade, and high fuel prices, the expectation is for a weaker end to the year.”

Photo by MarinaAvila