Africa’s ability to curb the spread of Covid-19 will be highly dependent on the continent’s air cargo industry. That’s because across Africa and the Indian Ocean islands, healthcare systems rely heavily on air transport for the expeditious delivery of supplies, says Muhammad Albakri, the current International Air Transport Association (Iata) regional vice president for Africa and the Middle East. “Unlike other parts of the world, for example North America or Europe, there are very few fast, safe and reliable transport alternatives – especially when time and temperature control are critical to saving lives and rebuilding economies.”Air cargo performance of airlines based in Africa has generally been resilient in 2020, according to Iata data. Between January and November 2020, growth in cargo-tonne kilometres (CTKs) of African airlines – the standard measure for air cargo volumes, combining weight and distance – was among the best across the key regions, at 0.5% year-on-year. This was slightly better than North America, which posted volumes unchanged from 2019 for the January to November period, and much better than most other markets. During this time interval, African airlines registered strong growth in cargo demand in January and February, when Covid-19 was still mostly confined to Asia. In April, CTKs declined by roughly 16% year-on-year, the weakest monthly growth outcome this year. Since then, there has been volatility in growth outcomes – due to the relatively low cargo volumes in the region – but volumes have generally shown a robust recovery and were close to pre-crisis levels in the latest months of data. While African airlines have been strongly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the region has not been struck to the same extent as most other areas of the world, as lockdowns and travel restrictions have been less strict and widespread then elsewhere. This has supported manufacturing activity and demand to a degree, and led to more resilient outcomes for air cargo. That said, Covid cases have been more elevated in recent weeks in countries such as South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and this may impact manufacturing activity and air cargo.Iata estimates it will require the equivalent capacity of 8000 Boeing 747 freighter aircraft to move vaccines from the manufacturing centres to the main warehousing and distribution nodes around the globe. Thousands of smaller aircraft and other vehicles will be required to carry the vaccines to secondary distribution centres and outlying rural locations, from where they will be delivered to hospitals, clinics, medical practices and temporary vaccination facilities, says Albakri.Airfreight experts, however, agree that moving billions of temperature-sensitive Covid-19 vaccinations around the world will be a complex and challenging undertaking. They are, however, increasingly aknowledging that it is not as unsurmountable a task as originally thought, especially in light of the increasing readiness being shown by the airfreight sector at large to take on the job.
