Nairobi number 1 of African cargo airports
In its "Air Transport Report 2020", the African Airlines Association (Afraa) also highlighted the evolution of the cargo business. The lockdowns and travel bans affected belly cargo volumes, which also declined because of disruptions in manufacturing and trade worldwide.
Recovery began in Q3/2020, limiting the year-on-year traffic drop to 10.6%, but an improved cargo load factor and capacity decrease was greater than the decline in traffic.
With over 330,000 t of cargo handled last year, Kenya's Nairobi airport was the continent's most successful air cargo gateway. Egypt's capital Cairo followed with 280'000 t.
Four West African stations are part of the top 10: Lagos (Nigeria), Accra (Ghana), Dakar (Senegal) and Abidjan (Ivory Coast). For the majority of these airports, freight traffic rebounded after the drop of Q2/2020. Nairobi even performed better in Q4 compared to Q1. (ah)