Kenya among top 5 African aviation markets, says report

Nairobi; Kenya: Kenya is among five countries leading Africa's international air trade market, according to the World Air Cargo Forecast 2014-2015 Report.

The report explains that the majority of inbound and outbound African international air trade is conducted by South Africa with 16.7 per cent, Egypt 14.0 per cent, Kenya 13.1 per cent, Nigeria with 9.4 per cent and Ethiopia 9.1 per cent. This means out of 57 African countries, Kenya ranks third in the international air trade market.

Last year, KQ Cargo, a fully-owned subsidiary of Kenya Airways, moved more than 71.3 million tonnes of cargo up from the 69.8 million tonnes lifted the previous year. The subsidiary also recorded improved revenue performance, receiving Sh 9 billion during the financial year 2013/2014, an increase from the previous year's performance which was Sh8.14 billion.

This was broken down into Freight (Sh8.13b), Mail (Sh187.5m) and Courier (Sh682.5m). KQ Cargo is projecting further growth following the successful roll-out of its intra-Africa freight operations. The growth will be boosted by conversion of two of the B747-300 from passenger airplanes to freighters.