In November 2024, African airlines saw a 0.7% year-on-year decrease in air cargo demand, marking the slowest growth rate across all regions and signaling potential challenges for the sector. Despite this downturn, African carriers increased their cargo capacity by 0.4%, showing their continued efforts to provide more space amid the declining demand.

The data, sourced from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) report on global air cargo markets, paints a mixed picture for the region. The report states: “African airlines saw a 0.7% year-on-year decrease in demand for air cargo in November, the slowest among regions. Capacity increased by 0.4% year-on-year.” This highlights a slowdown in the African air cargo market, though it contrasts with broader global trends of growth.

Globally, air cargo markets remained robust in November 2024, with a 9.5% year-on-year increase in demand, marking the 16th consecutive month of growth. Overall global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTK), rose by 8.2%, with international operations driving a larger portion of this increase at 9.5%. Global capacity also grew by 4.6% compared to November 2023.

IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh, expressed his satisfaction with November’s global air cargo performance, noting that demand growth nearly doubled the increase in capacity. He attributed part of this success to favorable fuel prices, which were 22% lower than the previous year, helping yield rise by 7.8%.

However, Walsh also warned that potential risks such as inflation, geopolitical tensions, and trade disruptions could pose challenges to sustained growth.

While African airlines struggled, other regions performed significantly better. Asia-Pacific airlines led the growth, with a 13.2% year-on-year increase in demand, the highest among all regions. Capacity in the region rose by 9.4%. North American airlines reported a more modest 6.9% increase in demand, with capacity expanding by 2.2%. European carriers saw a 5.6% rise in demand and a 4.3% increase in capacity. Middle Eastern airlines recorded a 3.6% increase in demand, although capacity decreased by 0.6%.

Latin American airlines experienced an 11.6% surge in demand, with capacity growing by 6.4%.

The IATA report highlighted several underlying factors influencing the global air cargo market. Industrial production rose by 2.1% in October, while global goods trade grew for the seventh consecutive month, up by 1.6%. These positive trends helped support the strong global demand for air cargo, despite the challenges faced by African carriers.

While African airlines face a slower pace of growth, the global air cargo sector continues to thrive, buoyed by strong demand from other regions. The outlook for global air cargo remains positive, though Africa’s slower growth points to potential risks and opportunities for regional carriers to address.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *