Supply chain snags, Omicron continue to bog down air cargo growth in December
The current global supply chain crisis has continued to affect the air cargo demand in December, even as air freight rates have continued to surge. The December demand in the general air cargo market put a final dampener on 2021 peak season volumes as continuing supply chain issues, congestion on the ground, and concerns over the new Omicron virus suppressed any end-of-year uptick, according to industry analysts, CLIVE Data Services.
As per CLIVE's latest weekly market intelligence, there is a -5% fall in chargeable weight in December 2021, compared to the pre-Covid level of December 2019, making it, versus 2019, one of the weaker months of the year. Compared to December 2020, volumes rose by +1%. CLIVE's analyses of the general air cargo market for the last calendar month continued to measure performance to both the pre-covid 2019 level, as well as giving 2020 year-over-year comparisons, to provide a meaningful assessment of its current performance.
The Q4 2021 data has reflected CLIVE's statement earlier in the year which encapsulated that the issues facing the air cargo market were driven by supply chain challenges, and less so by soaring volumes. In October, CLIVE's 'dynamic loadfactor' – which measures both the volume and weight perspectives of cargo flown and capacity available to produce a true indicator of airline performance – reported a lower load factor for the time of year than expected, followed in November by a -1.2% drop in volumes.
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