Bosses at German airline Lufthansa have noticed a slight upturn in air freight activity in recent months.

Speaking to Loadstar, a spokesman for the company's cargo division said: "We are seeing some good developments in Asia to Europe. It's not a boom, but it is slowly picking up."

These comments came shortly after Drewry revealed that overall air freight rates had declined in May, although it did single out Asia as a promising market.

"Rising Asia outbound demand should feed into higher pricing," the organisation stated.

Carriers have been encouraged by a rise in trade activity in South America, while the Middle East is also proving to be a lucrative region for the industry.

Although air freight traffic has generally fallen across Europe, places like the United Arab Emirates are thriving, with statistics released last month highlighting a 7.8 per cent year-on-year increase in air cargo deliveries at Dubai World Central in the first quarter of 2013.