IATA: Passenger and freight growth may not be sustained

IATA reported (04-Aug-2017) "business confidence has drifted sideways over recent months" and "passenger yields have stopped falling and increasingly appear to have bottomed". According to the association, both of these developments "are consistent with a slowing in the trend rate of growth in passenger demand" in 2H2017. In airfreight, IATA stated that it also "appears that the best of the cyclical growth upturn may now be behind us". Business surveys "still point to growing export orders, the new export orders data have broadly tracked sideways" since Mar-2017. The inventory to sales ratio has also stopped falling, "suggesting that the need for businesses to urgently re-stock may have passed". [more - original PR]