Air freight demand for the first six months of 2007 grew by a very small percentage and well below the growth recorded for the full year in 2006, according to Giovanni Bisignani, director general and chief executive officer of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The six month's figure was 2.7 percent compared with growth of 4.9 percent for 2006.

While year-to-date demand growth is weaker than forecast, June year-on-year demand for freight grew 4.9 percent - the second consecutive month of strengthening demand for freight, following the five percent growth recorded in May, and could be an indication of a return to historical growth levels in the five-six percent range.

Air freight demand growth was led by airlines in the Middle East during the first half of the year at 11.7 percent.

Demand growth in Asia Pacific rose 4.6 percent during the same period although demand surged to 7.4 percent in June following a 7.6 percent increase in May.

Demand growth in Europe was sluggish (0.7 percent) and contracted in North America (-1.2 percent) and Latin America
(-3.8 percent).

The first six months of the year showed 6.3 percent growth in year-on-year international passenger demand, slightly higher than the 5.9 percent full-year rise recorded for the year 2006. However, passenger demand growth weakened to 5.3 percent for the month of June, the lowest growth rate in nine months.

Average passenger load factors were 75.7 percent during the first half of the year, up 0.6 percent over the same period in 2006.

"A focus on efficiency, with careful capacity management, is keeping load factors at record levels. But the challenge will get tougher. Over the next 18 months almost 1,800 new aircraft will be delivered - equal to 10 percent of the existing fleet," said Bisignani.

Asia-Pacific's carriers will receive the biggest share (35 percent of the new aircraft, to meet demand in the fast-growing Chinese and Indian markets. With a stronger emphasis on fleet replacement, but also to meet demand growth, European airlines will take delivery of 26 percent and North American airlines will take on 25 percent.

"The new aircraft, operated efficiently with high load factors, will keep us on target to improve fuel efficiency 25 percent by 2020," said Bisignani.

The Middle East led all regions with passenger demand growth of 17.8 percent that outpaced capacity growth and boosted load factors during the first half of the year. Africa followed with 9.9 percent, thanks to improving links with Asia and the Middle East.

Asia passenger demand rose six percent due to favourable economic conditions followed by North America (5.2 percent), Europe (4.9 percent) and Latin America (0.7 percent).

Bisignani said: "Strong passenger demand means that record numbers of people are expected to travel in August. Harmonised security measures across borders are more critical than ever. The US-EU agreement on the sharing of passenger data, signed this month, was a step in the right direction.

"But governments must focus much more on further harmonisation to ensure that effective security is also convenient for passengers. A particular focus will be the UK, where unique screening policies inconvenience passengers with no improvement in security.

"The only beneficiary is the airport operator - BAA - that continues to deliver embarrassingly low service levels by failing to invest in appropriate equipment and staff to meet demand. This must stop."