JFK Air Freight Falls 27.8 Percent

Freight traffic at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport fell 27.8 percent in June, a modest improvement from the steep dive in demand the key trans-Atlantic gateway reported in the spring.

The drop from the same month a year ago marked the first time this year the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has seen less than a 30 percent decline at JFK, which has been hit more deeply than any other major U.S. airport by the downturn in air shipping.

Freight traffic at Kennedy was down 33.2 percent in the first half of 2009 compared to the same period last year.

But freight tonnage at the airport, the United States’ largest gateway for European air trade, was relatively stable in the second quarter. And international freight grew 2.7 percent in June from May.

After five straight down years, however, overall freight tonnage at JFK in the first half of this year is down nearly 40 percent since the first half of 2004.