INTERNATIONAL airfreight demand grew six per cent in August, its strongest rate of growth for 16 months. Growth for the year-to-date is 3.9 per cent. The improvement indicates airlines may be winning back market share from other transport modes with competitive pricing and operations, according to IATA.

“While the credit crunch clearly shook both business and consumer confidence in August, demand for air travel remained solid with record high load factors for August. This, combined with strong revenues over the first half of the year, is behind our improved industry profitability forecast of US$5.6 billion for 2007.” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO.