Global Air Cargo Posts 5.6 Percent Demand Surge

(MENAFN) Global air freight posted a strong opening to 2026, with total demand climbing 5.6% year-on-year in January, the International Air Transport Association reported, though mounting geopolitical and trade pressures threaten to cloud the outlook in the months ahead.

International operations outpaced the broader market, recording a 7.2% demand increase over the same period. Capacity, measured in available cargo ton-kilometers, expanded 3.6% globally and 5.7% across international routes, signaling sustained investment in freight infrastructure even as external risks multiply.

IATA Director General Willie Walsh described the results as a robust start to the year for air cargo demand, with carriers across Africa, the Middle East, the Asia-Pacific region and Europe all reporting growth rates that outstripped the global average.

The picture was notably less uniform in the Western Hemisphere, however. Walsh highlighted that carriers in the Americas recorded aggregate contractions — a stark divergence from the expansion logged elsewhere.

Looking ahead, Walsh sounded a cautious note, warning that the eruption of hostilities in the Middle East and shifting US trade policy would place significant strain on global supply chains in the near term. The combination of active regional conflict and an increasingly unpredictable tariff environment poses a dual risk to freight volumes at a time when the industry had appeared to be gaining solid momentum.

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