Southern African airfreight volumes on the rise

AS ECONOMIC activity in the Southern African region increases, cargo volumes moved by airfreight are rising in tandem. “We see this in various sectors – in mining activity, manufacturing and also in tourism. We move a lot of hotel supplies, perishables, spare parts – all the things needed by the tourism industry,” said Alwyn Rautenbach, MD of Airlink Cargo International. Handling 400 flights a week to domestic destinations, Airlink Cargo International moves airfreight on the Airlink routes to more domestic destinations than any other airline, utilising J41, BAE-142 and Embraer E135 aircraft. The planes are used for additional flights to such overborder destinations as Madagascar, Zambia, Zimbabwe and northern Mozambique. Cargo is also flown via Martinair on MD11F and B747F aircraft. “We handle five flights a week for Martinair. They arrive from Amsterdam via Nairobi to Johannesburg and then return to Amsterdam via Harare and Nairobi,” said Rautenbach. “Generally, business is good at the moment. It is growing, in fact,” said Rautenbach, whose company confirms the correlation between economic activity and shipping volumes.