U.S. Airlines' Cargo Grows

Traffic World Online (8/9/2008)
Cargo traffic for U.S. airlines grew 2.9 percent in July, with strong expansion in international trade helping the carriers recover from a decline the month before.

The long-troubled domestic air cargo market also showed a small recovery, with business flat in July compared to the same month last year after two straight months of steep declines, according to new figures from the Air Transport Association.
Domestic traffic remains down 0.9 percent for the first seven months of 2008 compared to the January-July period a year ago.

But international cargo grew 5.3 percent in July and was up 6 percent in the seven months to start the year. U.S. carriers have been scaling back capacity in domestic markets while shifting their focus to more international operations and their gains in that arena have defied reports of declining freight business for European and Asian airlines.

The gain in July include a 9.1 percent in Latin American cargo traffic for the U.S. airlines, the strongest increase there in 18 months, and a 6.8 percent boost in trans-Atlantic trade.