The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released January performance data showing a strong rise in air freight growth compared to a year ago. Global freight tonne kilometers (FTKs) rose 4.5% in January compared to January 2013. This is a significant acceleration on the 2.2% year-on-year growth rate recorded in December, and is well above the 1.4% full-year growth reported for 2013 as compared to 2012.

Growth was solid across all regions, with Middle Eastern carriers growing the fastest (10.7%). European airlines continued to benefit from Europe’s recovery from recession, posting 6.0% growth. Carriers based in the Asia-Pacific region, which account for nearly 40% of the global air freight market, reported 3.8% growth. This represents a major improvement over the 1.0% contraction in 2013.

“The improvement in demand is good news. It is a step-up in pace from the mild strengthening that we saw towards the second half of 2013. And in real terms, volumes are similar to the 2010 post-recession peak. But there is also ample reason to be cautious. Protectionist measures are part of the reason for a slower expansion of world trade than we would expect from current levels of industrial production.  Companies continue to re-organize supply chains in their efforts to move manufacturing on-shore,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

“This positive start to the year will set an upbeat tone for the World Cargo Symposium next week. The key objective for this year must be for cargo airlines, shippers and freight forwarders to seize opportunities to improve the industry’s value proposition. They can do this by investing in new quality procedures to improve the efficiency, security and reliability of air freight. The e-Freight program for paperless shipments is essential for that, and the new quality benchmarking process, which we will reveal at next week’s symposium, is vital for improving quality across the board,” said Tyler.