Air cargo demand soared to new heights in 2024.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that, in 2024, demand rose 11.3 percent as compared with 2023. In November, the group projected that the increase in demand for 2024 would hit 11.8 percent, half a percentage point higher than the actual figure.
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The increased demand air cargo companies saw in 2024 also marked the highest-ever demand peak, ousting a record previously set in 2021 by 0.5 percent, the IATA said.
IATA measures demand in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs).
In line with surging demand, available cargo tonne-kilometers (ACTK), which is how the IATA measures capacity, also increased, up 7.4 percent as compared with 2023.
And as carriers dealt with increased demand, they also increased efficiency. The IATA uses a metric called cargo load factor (CLF) to determine how efficiently cargo space is being used; it does so by dividing CTKs by ACTKs. In 2024, the average CLF came out to 45.9 percent, up 1.6 percentage points from 2023.
Yield rate averaged 1.6 percent lower than 2023, but Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general, said, on the whole, the year offered promising growth for the air cargo industry—particularly in the face of global elections, geopolitical conflict and increased fuel costs.
“Air cargo was the standout performer in 2024 with airlines moving more air cargo than ever before. Importantly, it was a year of profitable growth. Demand, up 11.3 percent year-on-year, was boosted by particularly strong e-commerce and various ocean shipping restrictions,” Walsh said in a statement. “This combined with airspace restrictions which limited capacity on some key long-haul routes to Asia helped to keep yields at exceptionally high levels. While average yields continued to soften from peaks in 2021-2022 they averaged 39 percent higher than 2019.”
December 2024 closed out the year on a successful note, with global CTK surging 6.1 percent year over year, marking the 17th consecutive month of growth for demand. December saw the industry posting a CTK gain of 0.9 percent month on month after adjusting for seasonal variations.
The Asia-Pacific region and North America were the largest contributors to the CTK growth in December. North America’s contribution grew to 23.6 percent, up more than 17 percentage points from the same period in 2023. While Asia saw a 4.9 percentage point decline from 2023, it was still responsible for 46.6 percent of CTK.