Recent air transport statistics are heartening: not only are passengers back, but cargo is in recovery too, according to the figures just released by IATA for December 2023 and the full year. Passengers (in RPKs) were up 25% in the month – and just 5.9% lower than in 2019.
Cargo, which has been in decline for most of 2022 and 2023, was up more than 10% in December, year on year, and even up 2.3% over December 2019 levels. In short, normalcy has returned. Passenger capacity is just 2.5% lower than pre-pandemic, and top-level global air cargo capacity is about the same.
