Summary

While land and ship cargo transportation remain as favourable options, goods transport by air is considered as the quickest and the unhindered mode of transportation. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the air cargo faced significant challenges in 2020, such as fallen global trade volumes, global economic activity and weakening consumer confidence. However, the as per the data releasd by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in January 2021, the air cargo demand returned to pre-COVID levels (January 2019) for the first time since the onset of the crisis.

Cargo airlines are increasingly embracing multichannel sales approaches as they attempt to cater for all types of customer. Whether its via bots, highly trained staff or booking platforms, carriers want to make themselves easily available to any customer – it’s no longer a case of booking solely via a carrier’s own website.

The demand for cold chain logistics via air freight for healthcare products by air is rigorously increasing along with the ever-tightening government regulation in the countries.

Key Market Trends

Strong African Air Freight Industry Driving the Market

As Africa continues to be an investment hub with several emerging economies, the upward trajectory is expected to catalyze the continent's air cargo and logistics sectors. The hunger for natural resources and desire for fresh produce have been pushing several countries to invest in the African aviation market. This transforming scenario has compelled the industry to shift gears to follow a disciplined approach in terms of policy framing, infrastructure, and connectivity. Just after a year of Single African Air Transport Market's (SAATM) launch by the African Union (AU), 27 countries signed the historic agreement for opening the skies to date. It is regarded as an important initiative for liberalizing the aviation sector, including air cargo, which may offer an immense benefit for African airlines in terms of accessibility and connectivity. Currently, 85% of Africa's air freight is being moved by foreign carriers who rarely collaborate with African carriers.

The Cape Town airport serves as a sub-hub and has seen tremendous growth in cargo volumes over the last three years. The additional flights into the southern African regions from Cape Town have promoted the growth in the trade of automotive, electronics, agricultural, and other perishable products.

Over the year, air cargo volumes have been supported by strong capacity growth and investment linkages with Asia. The Middle Eastern carriers reported a decline of 2.2% in year-on-year international cargo volumes in November 2020. The lack of international connectivity is hampering air cargo recovery in the region, however seasonally adjusted demand is supporting on an upward trend.

E-commerce Growth Creating Great Opportunities for Air Freight Industry

The e-commerce sector is forecasted to grow at 14% globally over the forecasted period creating a great opportunity for the air cargo industry. The global e-commerce industry, which makes up about 16% of the total air cargo business, is projected to grow more than double to USD 4.4 trillion by 2025.

Some global carriers are working to gain a bigger share of the door-to-door delivery market that has been dominated by online shopping giants, such as Amazon, Alibaba, and JD.com. The Dubai-based Emirates launched Emirates Delivers, Lufthansa has Heyday, and British Airways’ parent IAG has Zenda in order to explore the opportunities in the same day delivery and door-to-door delivery market.

The air cargo industry is well-positioned to capitalize on the growth in e-commerce. It is built to handle e-commerce, approximately 80% of business-to-consumer cross-border e-commerce is transported by air. Air cargo has become the preferred way of shipment for electronics due to relatively small volume or tonnage in comparison to high value.

Competitive Landscape

The air freight industry is moderately fragmented in nature. The industry is dominated by some of the major players operating in multiple regions across the world. The growing demand for air freight transportation services has posed new challenges to the air cargo service providers. Airlines need to focus on implementing fuel-efficient solutions and accommodate innovative technologies, to provide cost-effective services.

Companies like Lufthansa Cargo have invested in digital capabilities with their own e-booking, and also want to make their bookings available to others, so that the Application Programming Interface can offer the accessibilty of the inventory in the systems.

The air freight industry has been recently immense disturbed with the recent regulatory disputes (US-China trade war), anti-national activities, and COVID-19 pandemic leading to the cancelation of a huge number of flights due to safety concerns and fall in the number of passengers. Special economic zones (SEZ), free trade zones (FTZ), and the bonded warehouses are projected to cater to significant warehousing needs for the freight moving in and out of the airport shortly.

Additional Benefits:

The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
3 months of analyst support

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