With its march towards becoming a mobile-focused economy, the African continent was recently pushed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing e-commerce growth to imbibe a digital revolution that could also disrupt the air cargo industry.
The African Airlines Association (AFRAA) in a recent communication noted that the revenues of its member airlines remained low with many operators battling cash-flow issues. Full-year revenue loss for 2022 is estimated at $4.9 billion, equivalent to 28 percent of the 2019 revenues. In 2021, African airlines cumulatively lost $8.6 billion in revenues due to the impact of the pandemic, representing 49 percent of 2019 revenues.
Clearly, African aviation is going through its worst period ever in history. However, with the Covid-19 pandemic receding, all eyes are on how the recovery would be and one of the plausible explanations is a digital revolution. Technology providers are betting big on African air cargo’s ability to adopt new mobile and digital technologies and the curiosity to innovate.
According to Gautam Mandal, director-products, Cargoflash Infotech, African air cargo is experiencing an absence of skilled resources and comparatively low cargo volumes being handled by the region’s airports. "The present technology landscape within the African air cargo industry comprises either legacy systems that are obsolete or manual operations that are unproductive and non-scalable," he said.
Mandal also reports that there has been a growing need for air cargo transportation between different African countries catapulted by various treaties recently signed by the country’s regional governments including the Eastern Africa Community open air agreement, the COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) agreements, ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) treaty and SADAC (Southern African Development Community) agreements.
"As a result of such regional cooperation agreements, there has been a surge in inter-Africa trade and commerce. The growth of trade between African countries especially in regional blocks has created an increase in the exchange of commercial goods and services in Africa. However, due to the poor road and rail network interconnecting African countries, the only reliable means of transportation is air transport," Mandal said.
Meanwhile, David Linford, director, global sales & account management, CHAMP Cargosystems, sees Africa as a continent that does a lot of innovation. "Africa is a unique continent, handling large volumes of e-commerce. It has shown and delivered great potential over the years, serving over 120 customers across the continent. Ethiopian Airlines, for example, grew during the Covid-19 pandemic and began […]
