Pricing and capacity hold steady as traffic slows

Global airfreight tonnage and pricing diverged, as chargeable weight declined -4 percent from the prior week, sinking in all but one sector, whereas pricing rose across the board except from North America, where it was unchanged from the previous week. Tonnages shrank week on week (WoW) out of Asia Pacific and Middle East and South Asia (MESA) both to USA and Europe, but declines were more pronounced to Europe. According to the latest weekly figures from WorldACD Market Data, Africa (+7 percent) was the only origin region that posted a WoW increase in chargeable weight, with all other areas showing contraction, ranging from -7 percent out of Asia Pacific to -1 percent both out of Europe and Central and South America (CSA). The decline out of Asia Pacific can be partly attributed to national holidays in Japan (Autumnal Equinox Day on 23 September) and China (Mid-Autumn Festival on 25 September). Comparing the past two weeks with the prior fortnight (2Wo2W), both Asia Pacific and MESA saw contractions in all major outbound sectors (except expansion from Asia Pacific to North America), whereas flows out of Europe and North America increased in all sectors. Compared to the same week a year ago (YoY) global tonnage was +5 percent higher. It rose in single-digit percentages out of all origins, led by +9 percent growth out of Africa, followed by Asia Pacific and Europe with +6 percent expansion each. Despite the impact of the conflict in the Middle East, chargeable weight from MESA was still up +1 percent YoY. Asian slowdown at different paces Volumes out of Asia retreated -2 percent WoW to USA and dropped -8 percent to Europe. To Europe tonnages slipped in all sectors except from Hong Kong (unchanged) and Malaysia (up +20 percent), recovering from a -18 percent drop due to public holiday Malaysia Day the week before. Chargeable weight dropped -40 percent out of Japan and fell between -10 percent and -14 percent from Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand, while the other origins show single-digit contraction. Partly owing to the ongoing AI-related traffic, tonnage out of Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore to USA climbed between +6 percent and +12 percent WoW, whereas four origins in Asia Pacific (Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand) saw WoW volume decline. YoY tonnage from the region to USA was up +14 percent (increasing from all origins except Japan), while chargeable weight to Europe shrank in all Asia Pacific origins except Indonesia for an overall contraction of -8 percent. MESA volumes in retreat Tonnage from MESA to Europe sank -6 percent WoW, owing to declines out of India (-4 percent) and Bangladesh (-5 percent), while volumes out of Dubai remained stable on a WoW basis. Year on year volume ex-MESA shrank -7 percent as a result of contraction out of Dubai (-44 percent) and India (-7 percent). Traffic from MESA to USA slipped -2 percent WoW on declining tonnages out of Dubai (-7 percent), India (-1 percent) and Sri Lanka (-12 percent). Still traffic was +13 percent higher YoY on the strength of growth out of India (+15 percent) and Bangladesh (+47 percent). Rates advance in single digits on stable capacity Global airfreight capacity was unchanged for a third consecutive week. It rose +1 percent WoW out of Africa and contracted -1 percent from Europe, while there was no change in the other origins. The same pattern played out on a 2Wo2W basis – no change overall with fluctuations of -1 percent to +1 percent in individual regions. Compared to the same two-week period in 2025 total capacity was +3 percent higher, driven by single-digit expansion in all markets. Pricing rose +2 percent overall WoW, led by a +4 percent increase out of Asia Pacific, followed by Africa, Europe and MESA with +3 percent. It rose +1 percent from CSA and was flat out of North America. Compared to a year ago it was +27 percent higher, with MESA (+52 percent) showing the biggest increase, while CSA (+7 percent) was the only region with pricing up less than +10 percent. The average rate out of Asia Pacific to USA was unchanged WoW, despite drops between -1 percent and -9 percent out of six origins that were cancelled out by increases of +1 percent to +4 percent out of four other areas. To Europe pricing out of Asia Pacific rose +2 percent WoW, propelled by increases from seven origin countries ranging from +1 percent (Japan) to +8 percent (Singapore). Double-digit increases between +19 percent (Taiwan) and +54 percent (Singapore) pushed the average rate from Asia Pacific to USA +38 percent higher than a year earlier. Pricing from the region to Europe was 25 percent higher YoY, with Hong Kong (+9 percent) the only origin where rates climbed less than +10 percent, a reflection of the slump in e-commerce traffic into the European Union. Out of MESA pricing rose +3 percent WoW to Europe, while rates to USA climbed +7 percent. In both cases those increases were driven by rising prices from India and Sri Lanka, whereas rates