African carriers post 4.4 percent growth in air freight: IATA

May 30, 2019: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) data has revealed that African carriers posted 4.4 percent growth in air freight in April 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. Its capacity grew 12.6 percent year-on-year.

According to IATA, global air freight demand fell 4.7 percent in April 2019, compared to the same period in 2018.

However, for African carriers “strong freight tonne kilometers (FTKs) growth in late 2016 and into 2017 has been only partly unwound, and international FTKs for African carriers are still more than 30 per cent higher than their level of three years ago.”

“April saw a sharp decline in air cargo growth and the trend is clearly negative this year. Cost inputs are rising, trade tensions are affecting confidence, and global trade is weakening. Airlines are adjusting their capacity growth to try and fall into line with the dip in global trade since the end of 2018. It all adds up to a challenging year ahead for the cargo business. Governments should respond by easing trade barriers in order to drive economic activity,” said Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO, IATA.

Among the other regions, Asia-Pacific airlines saw demand for air freight contract by 7.4 percent, European airlines by 6.2 percent and Middle Eastern airlines by 6.2 percent. North American airlines saw a marginal demand increase by 0.1 percent, while Latin American airlines experienced an increase in freight demand growth of 5 percent.