Kuala Lumpur  - International demand for air freight recorded a dip of 23.6 per cent in January because of a lull in world trade amid the global economic downturn, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines said Friday.

The drop in freight ton kilometres was seen from the same month a year ago as total cargo loads registered a mere 56.6 per cent of capacity, a dip of more than 7 percentage points, the association said in a statement.

Asia-Pacific airlines also suffered a drop in passenger volume in January of 7.8 per cent from last year to stand at 11.4 million passengers.

"The collapse in world trade is having a severe impact on air-freight demand, forcing airlines to temporarily ground a number of dedicated freighter aircraft," association director general Andrew Herdman said

"Passenger travel demand is also weak, with premium traffic particularly hard hit as businesses seek to cut costs in response to the global economic downturn," he added while calling the operating environment "extremely challenging."

The downward trend in passenger and cargo volumes mirrored a similar pattern of dropping demand last year when the association's 17-member airlines recorded 141.5 million passengers, a 1.8-per-cent drop from the year before, and a 6.1-per-cent dip in air cargo. (dpa)