JFK Cargo Tumbles 9.4 Percent in October

Cargo traffic at New York¹s Kennedy International Airport fell 9.4 percent in October, the steepest year-over-year rate of decline so far in 2011 and a downbeat ending to the peak air freight shipping season.

The airport saw a slight uptick from September to October, but the 3.2 percent sequential gain was only a small boost and domestic cargo at Kennedy actually slipped back from the previous month.

Overall cargo at JFK in October was below what the airport handled in July, when the expedited shipping broke from usual seasonal patterns by slipping
back.

The fourth straight year-over-year decline at New York Kennedy left the airport¹s cargo tonnage up 0.3 percent in the first 10 months of 2011 over the same period a year ago. The airport's freighter capacity has grown sharply over last year, however: JFK averaged 6.3 freighter flights a day in October against just 2.7 daily all-cargo operations last year.