Global air cargo tonnages and rates continued their long-term decline in the first full week of July, with the pace of the fall in chargeable weight picking up again after briefly slowing in June.

Figures for week 27 (3 to 9 July) show a -4% decrease in tonnages compared with the previous week, and average worldwide air cargo prices also fell slightly (-1%), week on week (WoW), based on the more than 400,000 weekly transactions covered by WorldACD’s data.

Comparing weeks 26 and 27 with the preceding two weeks (2Wo2W), overall tonnages decreased by -6% versus their combined total in weeks 24 and 25, with capacity and average worldwide rates both down by -1%.

At a regional level, strong drops in tonnages were recorded (2Wo2W), most notably with double-digit declines ex-Middle East & South Asia (-17%) and ex-Africa (-11%). On a region-to-region level significant declines were recorded ex-North America to Europe (-15%), between Europe and Middle East & South Asia (westbound -15%, eastbound -13%), Asia Pacific to Middle East & South Asia (-14%), and between Africa and Europe (southbound -12%, northbound -7%). Other notable 2Wo2W changes included a drop ex-North America to Central & South America (-8%) and ex-Asia Pacific to North America (-6%), while the highest increase was observed on intra-Asia Pacific flows (+4%).

On the pricing side, average rates show a small decrease on a regional level for most lanes, on a 2Wo2W basis, with two notable exceptions: on flows ex-North America to Asia Pacific (-5%) and between Europe and Asia Pacific (westbound -3%, eastbound -2%). Lanes with slight increases include Central & South America to Europe (+2%), and Africa to North America (+1%) and Europe (+1%).

Year-on-Year perspective

Comparing the overall global market with this time last year, chargeable weight in weeks 26 and 27 was down -6% compared with the equivalent period last year (YoY), mainly driven by decreases in tonnages ex-North America (-14%), ex-Middle East & South Asia (-12%), ex-Europe (-9%) and ex-Africa (-7%). Only ex-Central & South America was stable compared to last year. The global tonnage drop of -6%, YoY, compares with a YoY decline of -4% recorded for the full month of June.

Overall capacity has increased by +8% compared with last year, with capacity ex-Asia Pacific up by a noteworthy +29%. Other double-digit YoY percentage increases include traffic from Middle East & South Asia (+10%) and Africa (+10%), while a strong reduction was observed from Central & South America (-15%).

Worldwide average rates are currently -38% below their levels this time last year, at an average of US$2.33 per kilo in week 27, although they remain significantly above pre-Covid levels (+32% compared to July 2019).