Freight tonne kilometres (FTK) have grown at the fastest pace for 14 months in June but yields remain under pressure with capacity growing faster, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) says.

In June, FTK grew by 4.3 per cent, with the Middle East and Europe performing most strongly but available FTK was up 4.9 per cent, pushing load factors down 0.3 percentage points to 43.1 per cent.

Middle East FTKs were up eight per cent, with Europe rising 5.1 per cent, while Latin America was the only region to register a fall, down 9.8 per cent due to continuing economic and political problems, particularly in Brazil.

IATA director general and chief executive officer, Tony Tyler says: “June saw an improvement in demand for air freight. That’s good news. However, we cannot read too much into one month’s performance. Air cargo markets have been in the doldrums for several years during which there were several false starts on indications for improvement.”

He adds: “We will continue watching developments closely, keeping in mind that the air freight business environment is fragile. Global economic growth remains sluggish, world trade volumes continue to trend downwards and the industry faces heightened uncertainty in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.”