The Africa–Asia air cargo trade lane recorded the fastest growth globally in January 2026, surging 41.6% compared to January 2025.
This information comes from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which also reported that global air cargo demand grew 5.6% overall, with international flights up 7.2%.
The surge on the Africa–Asia route reflects rising trade between the continents, driven by increased shipments of electronics, industrial goods, and other items connecting African and Asian markets.
What the report is saying
IATA highlighted the Africa–Asia route as the fastest-growing cargo corridor, marking seven consecutive months of strong expansion. Despite the rapid growth, the lane still represents a small portion of the global market, accounting for just 1.3% of total air cargo.
- The increase reflects growing trade links between African and Asian markets and rising demand for goods along this corridor.
- Furthermore, the report showed that African carriers recorded the strongest regional performance in January 2026, with demand up 18.2%—the highest of any region—and capacity rising 6.5%.
This shows that airlines across the continent are scaling up operations to keep pace with increasing shipments.
Other regions and trade lanes
Other regions showed mixed performance in January. Middle Eastern carriers grew demand by 9.3% and capacity by 9.9%, while Asia-Pacific airlines posted 7.8% growth in demand and 3.3% in capacity. European airlines saw demand rise 6.9%, with capacity up 4.9%.
- In contrast, North American airlines experienced a small drop in demand (0.5%) and capacity (0.2%), the only region to shrink in operations.
- Latin American and Caribbean carriers reported a 2.0% fall in demand, even as capacity increased slightly by 2.3%.
Other key trade lanes performed as follows: Europe–Asia cargo volumes grew 15.2%, Europe–North America rose 3.8%, Middle East–Asia climbed 12.9%, Within Asia expanded 14.3%, and Within Europe increased 1.0%.
The Asia–North America lane was the only major route to see a small contraction, declining 0.6%.
Flashback
African airlines had already recorded the strongest growth in global air cargo demand in December 2025, with year-on-year demand up 10.1%, the highest among all regions.
- For the full year 2025, cargo demand by African carriers grew 6.0% compared to 2024, while capacity expanded 7.8%.
- December 2025 marked a peak period for the region, with capacity increasing 9.8%, allowing airlines to meet seasonal demand and strengthen intra-African and international trade flows.
In November 2025, African airlines led global air cargo growth, with year-on-year demand rising 15.6%.
What you should know
African airlines also led the passenger market in international air travel growth in January 2026, with passenger demand rising 11.7% year-on-year, reflecting strong momentum in cross-border travel.
- International capacity, measured as available seat kilometers, increased 10.1% year-on-year for African carriers.
- The load factor, which measures the percentage of seats filled by paying passengers, reached 77.4%, up 1.1 percentage points from January 2025.
Globally, international demand rose 5.9% year-on-year, with an overall load factor of 82.5%, a record high for the month.
