The only way to characterize the air cargo market in March is it’s a little less worse than the past few months.
Slight recovery of factory output in China after the Lunar New Year holiday, a rise in manufacturing exports elsewhere and incremental improvement in inflation are helping global demand and rates achieve some sense of seasonal stability after a yearlong slump.
But the outlook remains murky, with green shoots pointing to a second-half recovery against a backdrop of difficult economic conditions. If import/export activity grows, the likely beneficiary will be container shipping lines — not airlines.