Delta, LATAM August traffic suffer in weak trade climate 

In the Americas, both Chile-based LATAM Cargo and Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines reported year-over-year declines for the month of August. 

Despite the slight reprieve LATAM saw earlier this year in June and July, the return in declines suggests continued impact of weak trade stemming from global political economic conditions on these carriers’ cargo business. Meanwhile, Delta Cargo entered its fifth consecutive month of declines that began in April, worsening its year-to-date decline.  

LATAM Cargo’s traffic for August declined by 5.2% year-over-year to 283 million RTKs. Year-to-date, traffic is down 0.8%. Load factors also increased 0.9 percentage points to 54.5% for the month, while available ton kilometers (AFTKs) for August saw a decrease of 6.6% y-o-y. Through the first half of 2019, AFTKs have decreased by 2.6%.  

Delta Cargo saw a sharp decline of 13.7% y-o-y for the month, to about 170 million cargo ton miles (or about 273 million FTKs). Year-to-date, Delta’s cargo traffic is down by 8.8%.