Annual rise in US airlines June cargo (over 9%) largest increase since January 2018

U.S. airlines carried 9.4% more cargo by weight in June 2020 than in June 2019, the largest annual gain since January 2018 fueled by a gain of almost 14% in domestic cargo. A 3.6% decline in international cargo was the smallest annual loss since November 2019, according to preliminary data filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by 13 of the leading cargo airlines.

The 13 airlines carry more than 90% of the total cargo by weight on U.S. airlines. Cargo data consists of freight and mail carried within the U.S. and between the U.S. and foreign points.

June 2020 preliminary air cargo numbers for 13 U.S. carriers:
U.S. airline cargo reports are filed monthly with BTS. Final June data will be released on Sept. 11.  Complete international data by origin and destination, which is under a six-month confidentiality restriction, will be released on Dec. 10.

• Total: 1,358 thousand tons, up 9.4% from June 2019 (1,241T tons)
• Domestic: 1,065 thousand tons, up 13.7% from June 2019 (937T tons)
• International: 293 thousand tons, down 3.6% from June 2019 (304T tons)

Systemwide Cargo (Domestic + International)

June 2020 was the second consecutive month that U.S. airlines carried more total cargo than they did during the same month of the previous year. The annual increases in May and June followed four straight months of declines from the previous year.  

Table 1: Systemwide Percent Change in US Airlines Cargo by Weight from the Same Month of the Previous Year 2016-2020

Cargo = Freight + Mail
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Market

		Year-to-Year Percent Change
	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018-2019	2019-2020
January	6.4	10.5	5.1	-0.5
February	6.1	9.2	-0.3	-0.1
March	8.0	5.8	-0.2	-1.6
April	2.6	5.9	4.4	-1.9
May	10.8	9.0	3.1	0.9
June	6.8	5.5	-1.1	9.4*
July	6.9	6.7	3.5
August	9.7	5.0	0.2
September	4.3	5.0	-4.4
October	10.6	5.5	-1.2
November	10.6	-0.6	-2.3
December	5.6	0.3	0.7
Jan-June	6.8	7.5	-1.0	0.8
Annual	7.4	5.4	0.6

* June 2020 data is preliminary

Domestic Cargo

June 2020 was the seventh consecutive month that domestic cargo shipments on U.S. airlines rose from the same month of the previous year. The 13.7% annual increase was the largest in more than three years.

Table 2: Domestic Percent Change in US Airlines Cargo by Weight from the Same Month of the Previous Year 2016-2020

Domestic cargo has a U.S. origin and U.S. destination

Cargo = Freight + Mail
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 Domestic Market

		Year-to-Year Percent Change
	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018-2019	2019-2020
January	4.6	10.4	6.1	2.8
February	4.9	8.7	0.7	2.2
March	7.1	4.0	-0.4	3.1
April	1.5	4.9	7.7	3.1
May	10.8	8.9	4.5	4.2
June	5.4	4.5	0.5	13.7*
July	5.2	6.7	6.2
August	9.4	4.8	0.1
September	3.3	4.3	-2.9
October	11.1	5.7	1.8
November	11.3	-0.1	-1.8
December	5.1	0.1	4.5
Jan-June	5.7	6.8	0.7	4.7
Annual	6.7	5.0	2.2

* June 2020 data is preliminary

 

International Cargo

U.S. airlines cargo shipments declined 3.6% by weight (preliminary) from June 2019 to June 2020, the 10th consecutive year-to-year decrease. The annual decline in May was less than the annual declines in March (13.9%), April (15.7%) and May (8.3%). It was the smallest annual decline since November 2019.

Table 3: International Percent Change in US Airlines Cargo by Weight from the Same Month of the Previous Year 2016-2020

International cargo on a U.S. airline is carried between a U.S. airport and a foreign airport.

Cargo = Freight + Mail

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 International Market

		Year-to-Year Percent Change
	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018-2019	2019-2020
January	11.4	10.6	2.2	-9.8
February	9.6	10.4	-3.1	-6.3
March	10.5	10.7	0.4	-13.9
April	5.3	8.2	-3.9	-15.7
May	11.0	9.2	-0.6	-8.3
June	10.8	8.2	-5.2	-3.6*
July	11.3	6.7	-3.6
August	10.6	5.6	0.4
September	7.2	7.0	-8.3
October	9.4	5.0	-8.7
November	8.8	-1.8	-3.5
December	7.2	0.9	-10.6
Jan-June	9.5	9.8	-6.4	-10.3
Annual	9.4	6.5	-3.8

* June 2020 data is preliminary