Middle East carriers continue to expand strongly with air cargo growth of seven per cent in June, up 10 per cent for the year-to-date, according to an International Air Transport Association (Iata) report.

The airlines in the region are capitalising on growth opportunities by expanding services to fast-growing emerging markets, such as Uganda and Mexico, said the report.

The capacity in June expanded 8.6 per cent year-on-year, it said.

The global air freight markets showed a 2.3 per cent growth in demand in June over the same period last year and slower than the 4.9 per cent reported in May.

The overall growth for the first six months stood at 4.1 per cent compared to the same period last year, stronger than the weak 1.4 per cent increase reported for the full year last year, said the report.

Tony Tyler, Iata’s director general and CEO, said: “At the half-way point of the year, it is clear that overall cargo demand is much stronger than in 2013. Carriers in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East have been the biggest beneficiaries of the improved market conditions. Europe is doing reasonably well, albeit still in recovery mode. The weak spot is the Americas.

“The general improvement in the economic environment is always good news for air cargo. This may not however, be a recovery as usual. First there are a lot of risks out there—from conflicts and sanctions to potential national defaults and fear of the Ebola outbreak.”

“Second, while air cargo is slowly emerging from two years in the doldrums time has not stood still. Logistics has become an even more intensely competitive sector. Shippers value faster end-to-end transit times, greater reliability and improved efficiency. More clearly than ever, the building blocks for the future of air cargo are found in global programs such as e-Freight and Cargo 2000. These are helping the entire value chain to deliver on the expectations of their customers,” said Tyler. - TradeArabia News Service