The most recent release from IATA shows air freight demand strengthening over May, with growth increasing from 2.8% year-on-year in April, to 5% in May. According to IATA these are the strongest figures since September 2006.

The fastest growth in air freight has been in the Middle East, growing at 10.5%. The driver of global demand however, has been the big volumes originating from Asia Pacific where growth jumped from 3.8% in April to 7.6% in May. North America grew at a modest 2.6%, whilst Europe grew by only 1.6%.

The head of IATA, Giovanni Bisignani, speculated that the higher growth could be a sign of things to come; " Over the next months we will be closely watching the impact of several changing conditions, including intensifying competition from other modes of transport and structural changes such as manufacturers producing lighter goods".

Air freight profitability has been increased by higher load factors which have increased to 73.7%. This has resulted in the industry as a whole returning to profit for the first time in seven years. However the passenger business is growing faster than freight in North America and Europe, although freight demand in Asia Pacific continues to be high.