Geneva : The air cargo industry globally had a record October, despite volumes from Asia to North America continued to decline.

The latest figures from IATA show that demand in cargo ton km terms (CTK) in October increased by 4.1 percent year on year, while capacity was up by 5.1 percent and the cargo load factor was down 0.5 percentage points to 47.1 percent.

The increase marked eight consecutive months of growth, IATA director general Willie Walsh said, however, not all trade lanes registered increases, with US tariffs continuing to impact demand levels on Asia-North America flights.

"While the Asia-North America trade lane extended its contraction to six months, October saw double-digit or near double-digit growth within Asia, between the Middle East and Europe, and between Europe and Asia," Walsh said.

"This shifting growth pattern shows that air cargo is enabling global supply chains to adapt to the impact of US tariffs. This positive news is especially significant as the air cargo sector enters the peak fourth quarter shipping season."

Trade lane figures show that the Asia-North America trade saw demand fall 1.4 percent year on year in October.

Meanwhile, Europe-Asia was up 11.7 percent compared with last year, within-Asia improved 9 percent and Middle East-Asia was up 11.5 percent.

In terms of airline performance, North American carriers' cargo traffic was down 2.7 percent year on year in October, Asian airlines experienced an 8.3 percent increase, European carriers saw a 4.3 percent year-on-year increase, Middle Eastern carriers were up 5.7 percent, there was a 2.7 percent improvement at Latin American carriers and African airlines enjoyed a bumper 16.6 percent year-on-year increase.