Global air cargo demand increased strongly, year-on-year (y-on-y), in June, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported. IATA is the representative body for the global airline industry.

“Air cargo demand grew 8.5% [y-on-y] in June,” highlighted outgoing IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “While North America was the strongest contributor to growth, demand in all regions was in positive territory compared with last year.”

International cargo demand increased by 9.6%, year-on-year. Total air cargo capacity rose by 4.4%, and international capacity by 4.9%, over the same period.

“Demand growth outpaced capacity at the global level and in all regions except Latin America and the Caribbean,” he elucidated. “Demand also grew faster than global trade, supported by high-value technology products, and urgent shipments. While this all gives strong reasons for optimism in the second half of 2026, risks remain – continuing hostilities in the Middle East and a renewed focus on tariffs by the US among them.”

Developments in the wider economy that affected air cargo included a 5.2% y-on-y increase in global trade. Jet fuel prices dropped 20%, month-on-month, but were still up 45.8%, year-on-year. The global manufacturing output purchasing managers’ index (PMI) declined by 0.5 points, to 53 points, which was still firmly in growth territory. But the PMI for new export orders came in at 49.4, the fourth month in a row of contraction. This indicated that the growth in air cargo was stimulated by specific, and not general, trade flows.

Regarding IATA’s regions, the one that saw the strongest year-on-year growth in air cargo demand was North America, with a rate of 13.1%. Next was the Asia-Pacific, with 7.9% and Europe (6.9%). Then came the Middle East (5.6%), Africa (4.7%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (3.5%).

In terms of capacity, the region that saw the greatest year-on-year increase was Latin America and the Caribbean, at 9.8%. The followed North America (6.2%), the Asia-Pacific (4.3%), Europe (3.7%), and the Middle East (2.5%, but this result was distorted because June 2025 had been a particularly bad month for Middle Eastern airlines as a result of conflict in the region.) Africa saw a year-on-year decline in capacity of -7.1%.

Of the major air cargo trade lanes, Asia-North America was the one that saw the strongest year-on-year growth in June, at 14.7%. In second place was Within Asia, at 7.2%, and then Europe-Asia, at 7.1%. Thereafter followed Africa-Asia (0.9%) and Europe-North America (zero per cent). The Middle East-Asia trade lane saw a contraction of -4.1% and Europe-Middle East a drop of -41.1%; for both these routes, June was the fourth consecutive month of contraction.