January 11, 2022
According to the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) November 2021 data for global air cargo markets, supply chain disruptions and capacity constraints impacted demand, despite economic conditions remaining favorable for the sector.
(As comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted, all comparisons below are to November 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern.)
IATA says global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres, was up 3.7% compared to November 2019 (4.2% for international operations). This was significantly lower than the 8.2% growth seen in October 2021 (2% for international operations) and in previous months.
Capacity was 7.6% below November 2019 (-7.9% for international operations). This was relatively unchanged from October. Capacity remains constrained with bottlenecks at key hubs.
Economic conditions continue to support air cargo growth, however supply chain disruptions are slowing growth.
Labor shortages, partly due to employees being in quarantine, insufficient storage space at some airports and processing backlogs exacerbated by the year end rush created supply chain disruptions. Several key airports, including New York's JFK, Los Angeles and Amsterdam Schiphol reported congestion.
Source: IATA