Carriers across the Middle East raised their air cargo capacity by 1.5 percent in June, despite demand falling 3.2 percent due to military conflicts and airspace disruptions, said the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in its latest monthly report.
The restrictions and disruptions affected operations at key regional hubs across the region, with airlines suffering flight cancellations or undertaking rerouting strategies that caused longer transit times and higher costs, gravely affecting their operations in June.
Asia Pacific leads international air cargo growth
The industry’s air cargo demand, measured in Cargo Tonne-Kilometers (CTK), increased 0.8 percent annually in June 2025, compared to 2.2 percent in May, reflecting the cargo market’s uncertainty amid the trade war. International cargo demand saw a 1.6 percent rise, with most regions and routes posting single-digit gains.
Asia Pacific led the international air cargo growth with an 8.3 percent annual increase. In contrast, the trade measures implemented by the U.S. government in the past months led to a significant decline in traffic to and from North America.
The report also revealed that global available cargo space expanded by 1.7 percent, while capacity utilization or Cargo Load Factor (CLF), decreased 0.4 percentage points compared to June 2024.
“Overall, air cargo demand grew by a modest 0.8 percent year-on-year in June, but there are very different stories behind that number for the industry’s major players. Trade tensions saw North American traffic fall by 8.3 percent and European growth stagnate at 0.8 percent. But Asia-Pacific bucked the trend to report a 9 percent expansion. Meanwhile, disruptions from military conflict in the Middle East saw the region’s cargo traffic fall by 3.2 percent,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
On the other hand, African carriers showed a 3.9 percent increase on the international segment, which translated into a 6.8 percentage point rebound versus May 2025. Latin America achieved a considerable 4.1 percent increase, up 0.8 percentage points from the previous month.
Asia–North America corridor contracts for second month
IATA also revealed that air freight volumes in June 2025 increased on most trade corridors with Asia, as well as the route between North America and Europe. In contrast, cargo routes within Europe and between Europe and the Middle East are decreasing.
However, the most concerning is the Asia–North America corridor, the largest and most active cargo route, that is contracting for the second consecutive month. Cargo corridors within Europe performed weakly in June 2025, decreasing 1.7 percent. However, air cargo volumes increased 2.9 percent from May, benefiting from seasonal inventory flows and steady e-commerce demand.
“The June air cargo data made it very clear that stability and predictability are essential supports for trade. Emerging clarity on U.S. tariffs allows businesses greater confidence in planning. But we cannot overlook the fact that the ‘deals’ being struck are resulting in significantly higher tariffs on goods imported into the U.S. than we had just a few months ago. The economic damage of these cost barriers to trade remains to be seen. In the meantime, governments should redouble efforts to make trade facilitation simpler, faster, cheaper and more secure with digitalization,” said Walsh.
On the upside, the Asia-Europe corridor continued growing in June 2025. It reported the highest growth rate among the six major trade routes and gained 10.5 percent, supported by tech, pharma and luxury goods flows between the regional hubs. The transatlantic North America-Europe corridor, the second busiest route in the world, still delivered a moderate 4.8 percent increase. However, the cargo flow on this airway fell 3.7 percentage points from May, showing signs of a slowdown.
On the downside, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency issued a Conflict Zone Information Bulletin (CZIB No. 2025-02) concerning the Middle East, specifically the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon, recommending airlines to avoid operations in the affected airspace. In consequence, the cargo corridor Middle East-Europe significantly decreased, losing 3 percentage points compared to the previous month.
