IATA: African airlines record weakest air cargo demand growth in July

In July 2026, African airlines experienced the weakest growth in air cargo demand among all regions, with an increase of just 1.1% year-on-year, according to the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) latest market report. This performance was below the global air cargo demand, which grew by 3.9% year-on-year during the same period.

The weaker growth in Africa was attributed to the region expanding cargo capacity at a faster rate than freight traffic, resulting in a lower cargo load factor. IATA data showed that African airlines boosted available cargo capacity by 4.1% year-on-year in July, while demand grew by only 1.1%. The higher capacity expansion pushed the regional cargo load factor down by 1.4 percentage points to 45.8%.

Global trade expanded by 7.5% year-on-year in July, offering support to air cargo demand. Dedicated freighters also gained market share as cargo carried in the holds of passenger aircraft declined. The Asia-North America corridor saw the strongest growth among major trade lanes, with cargo demand increasing by 9.2%. In contrast, the Europe-Middle East route experienced a 16.1% decline, and the Middle East-Asia corridor fell by 14.1%.