Global air passenger traffic continued to show a healthy growth in June, a sharp contrast with the worldwide freight volumes that remained sluggish.
Passenger traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), rose 5.7% compared with the same month last year as a result of strong travel demand, said the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
But cargo volumes, in terms of freight tonne kilometres (FTK), inched up just 1.2% in the month to reflect the falling trade activity and weaker global growth than expected.
"June was another healthy month for demand for [passenger] air connectivity, although slower trade activity in emerging Asia-Pacific markets and the impact of the Greek debt crisis on European travel remain worrisome," said IATA director-general Tony Tyler.
For the first half of this year, global passenger traffic growth in RPK grew 6.3% from the same period last year.
On the freight market, he said the figure was not encouraging, with growth at 3.5% compared with 5.8% in the first half of 2014.
"With growth of just 1.2% over June last year, markets are basically stagnating," he said.
"The general expectation is for an acceleration of economic growth, but business confidence and export orders look weak."
IATA reported June's international passenger demand rose 5.3% and airlines in all regions except Africa recorded growth although there were wide variations among the regions. Capacity climbed 6%, pushing down load factor 0.5 percentage points to 80.4%.
Domestic travel demand grew 6.5% in June, with the strongest growth occurring in India, China and the Russia. Total domestic capacity was up 6%, and load factor was 82.2%, up 0.4 percentage points.
Mr Tyler complained that governments often do not realise that tourism is the life blood of many economies and much of it arrives by air, burdening airlines and travellers with high fees and taxes, such as the French government's decision to allow increases in annual charges at Paris' two airports between 2016 and 2020.