Africa’s aviation industry will suffer an estimated revenue loss of $8.103 billion this year as a result of Covid-19 pandemic, according to a latest report by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA).
The analysis which is the first in a series of studies that will be published by the association examining the toll of the pandemic on Africa’s air transport sector indicated that recovery is expected to start from the third quarter of 2020 with domestic operations, followed by regional and intercontinental flights.
The report, released this week, shows the industry recorded a 90.3 per cent year on year passenger traffic reduction for the month of May.
Since March 2020, AFRAA analysis reported there has been a shortage of cargo plane capacity due to demand derived from the Covid-19 crisis including medical supplies and essential goods with a number of airlines suspending their operations.
The report indicates a significant reduction in belly cargo capacity due to suspension of passenger flights owing to border closures by states during the Covid-19 pandemic period with capacity dropping by 16.169 billion available seat miles in May, a 78.40 per cent of reduction year on year.
