Changes critical for air cargo sector growth in South Africa - IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has recently announced a study that stresses the importance of the air cargo industry to the economy of South Africa. The study, in partnership with Oxford Economics, aims to outline the advantages of the aviation industry in an effort to provide factual and relevant information to policy-makers worldwide, who in turn can be better-equipped to make informed decisions. On a global level this would result in policies that support global connectivity of air cargo services.

The statistics for air cargo South Africa do highlight that air freight cargo and transport can contribute massively to economic growth, but it is also evident that policies need to put in place to insure that this growth remain positive. At the annual general conference of the Airlines Association of South Africa held in Durban this month, it was stated that over 21 million people and 240,000 tonnes of air cargo travelled to, from and within South Africa in 2010. Research showed what these figures mean for South African GDP and employment opportunities, contributing ZAR 51 million and creating 270, 000 skilled jobs respectively.

IATA outlined possible areas where partnerships between government and industry in Southern Africa could improve to maximise profitability, including issues on air cargo security, charges and carbon emissions. According to IATA, safety is currently the top priority in Africa. In 2010 the continent scored 12 times worse the global average for safety levels. Contributing to the figures was that 80% of all African accidents in the air cargo industry involved air cargo carriers not on the IATA Operational Safety Audit registry.

Another important area noted by the chairman of the IATA, Tony Tyler, in Durban was the 161% increase in Airports Corporation South Africa (ACSA) charges allowed over the next five years. Although South Africa has world class infrastructure for air cargo services, if charges and where increased in accordance to the allowance, it could make South African airports the most expensive in the world and increase air cargo rates. According to Tyler this “is not sustainable and I am eager to engage in a positive dialogue on how we can move forward to make the air transport infrastructure more competitive,” said Tyler.

The environment is also an important contributing factor for the air cargo companies. South Africa’s air freight sector will play an important future role in finding a solution to climate change, ahead of South Africa hosting the United Nations Convention Change COP talks this year, also in Durban. IATA encouraged the South African air cargo industry to follow aviation guidelines to improve annual fuel efficiency by 1.5% by 2020 and decrease net emissions by 50% in 2050 compared to 2005. These figures are important to air cargo companies but it should be noted that environmental guidelines for the sea freight industry could be similarly affected.