African airlines recorded the weakest air cargo demand growth of any region in July, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Monday, even as global air freight demand grew 3.9% year-on-year.
Demand at African carriers rose just 1.1% year-on-year in July, the slowest of any region, while capacity expanded 4.1%, outpacing demand and pushing the region’s cargo load factor down to 45.8%. Globally, demand rose 3.9% (4.7% for international operations) against a 1.7% rise in capacity (1.8% international), leaving the worldwide load factor at 46.0%.
North America posted the strongest regional performance, with demand up 4.8% even as capacity fell 1.5%. Europe grew 4.4% (capacity up 1.3%), Asia-Pacific 4.1% (capacity up 3.0%), and Latin America and the Caribbean 4.1% (capacity up 7.0%). The Middle East grew 1.7%, just ahead of Africa, with capacity up 4.0%.
IATA Chief Economist Marie Owens Thomsen said “Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America accounted for more than 90% of the overall increase” in global demand. She noted that dedicated freighters gained market share as belly-hold cargo capacity, carried in the holds of passenger aircraft, declined, which IATA said may reflect stronger demand for larger or specialised shipments. The organisation described the outlook as broadly positive, supported by manufacturing activity, export orders and trade, but flagged fuel prices, geopolitical tensions and tariff uncertainty as risks to watch.
Cost pressures were evident in the data: jet fuel prices rose 12.2% month-on-month in July and were 56.9% higher than a year earlier. Global trade grew 7.5% year-on-year, while the Global Manufacturing Output PMI eased 0.3 points to 52.7 and new export orders rose to 50.0, a reading IATA said remained broadly supportive of cargo demand.
Trade lane data underscored Africa’s weak position. The Africa-Asia corridor contracted 14.7% year-on-year, its second straight month of decline, and accounts for just 1.3% of industry cargo traffic. That compares with Asia-North America, which grew 9.2% for a sixth consecutive month and holds the largest share of industry traffic at 23.5%. Gulf-linked routes also remained under pressure from the ongoing Middle East conflict, with Europe-Middle East traffic down 16.1% and Middle East-Asia down 14.1%. Africa accounted for just 2.1% of global air cargo traffic by carrier in 2025, the smallest share of any region.
