The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reports that global airfreight volumes grew by 9% in 2017, far exceeding the 3.6% growth in 2016.Contrary to ocean freight demand growth far outpaced growth in capacity, which increased by only 3% in 2017 which is the smallest annual capacity growth since 2012.Demand grew at twice the 4.3% rate of expansion in world trade, largely driven by “strong global demand for manufacturing exports as companies moved to restock inventories quickly.”, IATA noted.With air cargo showing its strongest performance since the rebound from the global financial crisis in 2010, airlines saw improvements in load factors, yields and revenues.Asia-Pacific routes made up 37% of the total airfreight traffic market share in 2017, based on freight ton kilometers, followed by Europe at 24%, North America at 20.5%, the Middle East at 13.7%, Latin America at 2.7% and Africa at 1.9%.The outlook for airfreight in 2018 remains optimistic, although the industry expects that demand growth will slow from the 9% pace this year to a still “very healthy” 4.5 percent clip in 2018, driven by high consumer confidence and an increased demand for international e-commerce as well as time/temperature-sensitive goods like pharmaceuticals.