Air Cargo Declines 13.5 Percent in November

(MoneyWatch)  There's another side to the airline industry that doesn't get nearly as much press, and that's the piece involving cargo. Every day, cargo is flown all around the world with great speed. This could be anything from a letter mailed via FedEx to a monstrous piece of equipment that's in a big hurry. Cargo can be very profitable, and it can really help justify a passenger flight's existence on occasion. But in November, cargo dropped off dramatically.

Overall, Freight Tonne Kilometers (FTKs) were down 13.5 percent. FTKs are the number of tonnes of cargo multiplied by the number of kilometers flown. There are two possible reasons for this. One, freight traffic was just down in general. Two, it's possible that the same amount of freight is going shorter distances. It's most likely the former.

As the world's economy has slowed, the amount of cargo needing to be shipped has dropped as well. Over the summer, I would also have expected to see cargo going shorter distances as the cost of fuel made long distance shipping less economical. But now with lower fuel prices, I would think that distance wouldn't be as much of an issue. Of course, the impact of high fuel could have a lag time as well.