The global cargo turnover of civil aviation in April 2023 decreased by 6.6% compared to April last year. According to the materials of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), this indicates a significant improvement: for example, in January this year, the decline was 16.8% year-on-year, 9.4% in February, and 7.7% in March.
The offering of available capacity in the air cargo market in April was 13.4% higher than in March last year. Moreover, for the first time in three years, this indicator exceeded the results of the pre-COVID year 2019 – the year-on-year growth amounted to 3.2%. IATA explains such dynamics by the recovery of the passenger air market, which gives additional opportunities for cargo transportation in the luggage compartments of passenger planes.
Willie Walsh, Director General at IATA, notes that the increase in available capacity in the market has already led to the discontinuation of the use of passenger planes for cargo only.