Freighters grapple with high demand as airfreight capacity drops 23% in March

Airfreight volume fell more than 15% year-over-year (YoY) in March, according to the latest numbers from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). But with capacity falling further the industry can't keep up with what demand remains and prices for air freight are climbing as a result. Freight capacity fell nearly 23% YoY in March as a result of belly cargo space in passenger airlines being pulled from the market due to flight cancellations. International belly cargo capacity fell almost 44% YoY in March, while dedicated freighter rose more than 6% YoY. "In the short term, we don't have sufficient capacity," IATA CEO Alexandre de Juniac said in a briefing this week. "Airlines are doing whatever it takes to gain the physical capacity by taking freighters out of storage and using them more intensely. They are also adapting passenger planes to all-cargo operations." Passenger airlines are cutting flights as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but some are adding capacity to cargo market by repurposing planes to carry freight.