DAVOS, SWITZERLAND, Jan 18 (Reuters) - German logistics giant DHL still has available air freight capacity even as attacks in the Red Sea stymied logistics pathways because demand is lower and more elastic than in previous crises, its chief executive told Reuters.

E-commerce demand from Asia was a stabilising factor for air freight capacity management because it was relatively simple for companies to raise prices or lengthen delivery times to ease pressure on logistics channels, CEO Tobias Meyer said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The global economy was also "not really pumping yet", he added, meaning demand for shipping was lower than usual.

DHL Group does not operate ships, but uses them to transport containers, offering planes, trains and trucks to move goods globally.

Logistics firms have said that more manufacturers are seeking to fly their products as attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, which leads to the Suez Canal and lies on the key east-west trade route from Asia's manufacturing hubs to Europe, force them to find alternate routes.

Air freight is costly compared with sea freight, but has become a more attractive option since the attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militia have affected companies and alarmed major powers in an escalation of Israel's war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

E-COMMERCE RISING

Logistics companies have been racing to match costs to global demand that has fallen to pre-pandemic levels.

Meyer, who said last November that a global economic recovery had not materialised, said markets were indicating an expectation that the economy would "pick up a bit of momentum" in the first half of the year.

E-commerce was rising again, having boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic and then fallen slightly as some customers returned to physical shops for certain goods such as fashion items, Meyer said.

"We are now back on a long-term trajectory," he said. (Reporting by Victoria Waldersee in Davos, Matthias Inverardi in Duesseldorf; Editing by Alex Richardson)