The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global airfreight markets showing that African carriers posted the fastest growth of any region in January 2020. 

African carriers led the world for the 11th consecutive month, with an increase in demand of 6.8% compared to the same period a year earlier. Growth on the smaller Africa-Asia trade lanes (up 12.4% in 2019) contributed to the positive performance while the continent’s capacity grew 5.9% year-on-year.
IATA’s results indicate that global demand, measured in cargo tonne kilometres (CTKs), decreased by 3.3% in January 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. 

“January marked the tenth consecutive month of year-on-year declines in cargo volumes. The air cargo industry started the year on a weak footing. There was optimism that an easing of US-China trade tensions would give the sector a boost in 2020. But that has been overtaken by the Covid-19 outbreak, which has severely disrupted global supply chains, although it did not have a major impact on January’s cargo performance. Tough times are ahead. The course of future events is unclear, but this is a sector that has proven its resilience time and again,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.

Cargo capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometres (ACTKs), rose by 0.9% year-on-year in January 2020. Capacity growth has now outstripped demand growth for 21 consecutive months. 
IATA officials noted that it is unlikely that the Covid-19 outbreak had very much to do with January’s weak performance. The Chinese Lunar New Year in 2020 was earlier than in 2019 and this skewed 2020 numbers towards weakness as many Chinese manufacturers would be closed for the holiday period. It is believed that February’s performance will give a better picture of how Covid-19 is impacting global air cargo.

Airlines in Asia-Pacific and Europe suffered sharp declines in year-on-year growth in total air cargo volumes in January 2020, while North American and Middle East carriers experienced a more moderate decline. Latin America and Africa were the only regions to record growth in airfreight demand compared to January 2019.