Africa’s air cargo figures buck the global trend

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) traffic figures for October show a second consecutive month of global decline. International passenger traffic declined by 1.3% compared to the same month in the previous year – a smaller decline than the 2.9% drop experienced in September. International air freight traffic contracted by 7.9% in October for a fifth consecutive month of increasingly severe drops. This decline has dragged year-to-date air freight volume to 0.8% below the same period in 2007. Forecast declines in key air cargo sectors such as semi-conductors indicate that weakness is expected to continue. Asia-Pacific carriers, which account for 44.7% of the international cargo market, saw international freight traffic decline by 11.0%, reflecting the sharp drop in the region’s exports. North American and European carriers saw less precipitous declines of 7.6% and 5.4% respectively. In sharp contrast to declining passenger performance, African carriers saw a 3.0% improvement in cargo during October. This reflects trade growth within Africa. Latin American carriers saw the largest decline (11.4%). Middle Eastern carriers were the only others to report growth (1.0%) in October.