The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported that African airlines recorded a 4.7 per cent increase in air cargo demand in September, despite a 1.2 per cent decline in available capacity.

IATA, in its September global air cargo market report released on Thursday, said the growth in demand exceeded the 2.7 per cent increase in global cargo capacity.

The report showed that Africa’s cargo load factor, which measured the proportion of available capacity used, rose by 2.7 percentage points to 47.0 per cent during the period.

IATA’s Senior Vice President, Sustainability and Chief Economist, Marie Thomsen, attributed the global growth to stronger trade and manufacturing activity, alongside increased shipments of artificial intelligence-related goods across the Pacific.

“Air cargo demand rose 7.7% year-on-year in September, with growth across all regions. Stronger global trade and manufacturing provided a supportive backdrop, while AI-related shipments helped drive another month of double-digit growth across the Pacific,” she said.

Ms Thomsen, however, warned that rising fuel prices were making air cargo operations more expensive and challenging for airlines.

“The challenge is cost. Jet fuel prices have more than doubled compared with a year ago, and yields have not kept pace.

“There is no shortage of goods to ship but doing that profitably in the face of persistently high fuel prices has become more challenging,” she stated.

However, the report showed that African airlines accounted for only 2.1 per cent of the global air cargo market, based on cargo tonne-kilometres recorded in 2025.

Globally, air cargo demand increased by 7.7 per cent year-on-year in September, while international demand grew by 8.6 per cent.

IATA reported that jet fuel prices rose by 17.5 per cent month-on-month in September and were 103.4 per cent higher than a year earlier.

The report added that global trade increased by 3.6 per cent year-on-year in August, while manufacturing activity and new export orders strengthened to their highest levels in five years.

On regional performance, North American airlines recorded the strongest growth in cargo demand at 11.8 per cent, followed by Asia-Pacific carriers at 8.6 per cent.

Latin American and Caribbean airlines recorded a 6.7 per cent increase, while European carriers posted 4.5 per cent growth.

Middle Eastern airlines recorded the weakest regional growth at 3.8 per cent, despite a 7.0 per cent increase in capacity.

On trade routes, cargo traffic between Africa and Asia increased by 2.6 per cent year-on-year in September, accounting for 1.3 per cent of the global air cargo market.

The growth followed a challenging August, when African airlines recorded a three per cent increase in demand while expanding cargo capacity by 14 per cent, according to IATA’s previous report.

Globally, the Asia-North America trade lane recorded the strongest growth in September at 17.0 per cent, followed by cargo traffic within Asia at 10.2 per cent.

However, traffic on the Europe-Middle East and Middle East-Asia routes declined by 18.0 per cent and 10.2 per cent, respectively.

IATA represents more than 370 airlines, accounting for approximately 85 per cent of global air traffic. 

(NAN)