November 3, 2009

Air cargo traffic at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) reported its first year-over-year gain in freight traffic in nearly two years in September--a clear sign that the sector is entering a modest recovery.

The key gateway for trans-Pacific air cargo experienced a 2.5 percent increase in freight tonnage over September 2008, the first yearly growth for Los Angeles since November 2007.

The September tonnage also marked a 3.7 percent gain over August’s freight tonnage, the fifth straight month-to-month gain for the airport.

Air cargo carriers are seeing modest improvements in demand while some forwarders are reporting capacity shortages in Asia as carriers have idled aircraft.