With air cargo demand falling drastically the world over, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has asked the cargo supply chain to battle the prevailing crisis by improving security, delivering better product and boosting efficiency.
"The industry is in crisis and nobody knows that better than our cargo colleagues. Cargo demand has fallen off a cliff. After a shocking 22.6 per cent decrease in December, it dropped a further 23.2 per cent in January," IATA's Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani has said.
Addressing almost 700 industry experts attending the IATA’s World Cargo Symposium in Bangkok yesterday, he said the continued decline in cargo markets was "a clear sign that we have not yet seen the bottom of this economic crisis".
Air cargo represents about 10 per cent of the industry revenues with as much as 35 per cent of the value of goods traded internationally being transported by air, according to an IATA statement here.
Describing air cargo as "a barometer of global economic health", he said the IATA had forecast the 2009 freight volumes to fall 5 per cent and, combined with a decrease in yields, this would result in a 9 per cent drop in freight revenues to USD 54 billion.
"Unfortunately, the shocking fall in demand that followed is making these projections look optimistic," he Bisignani.