Innovations and Challenges in Focus as Africa’s Air Cargo Event Begins

By Aoma Kezi­ah,

Africa’s Air Car­go and Trans­port Logis­tics event  2025, offi­cial­ly com­menced in Nairo­bi, bring­ing togeth­er glob­al and region­al lead­ers in air car­go, freight logis­tics, and mul­ti-modal trans­port solu­tions. Co-host­ed by the Kenya Air­ports Author­i­ty, the event serves as a strate­gic plat­form for dis­cussing indus­try chal­lenges, shar­ing inno­va­tions, and shap­ing the future of air car­go in Africa.

The event attract­ed key play­ers in the air car­go and logis­tics sec­tor. Region­al indus­try giants such as Kenya Air­ways Car­go, Astral Avi­a­tion, Ethiopi­an Air­lines, and South African Air­ways joined by inter­na­tion­al pow­er­hous­es includ­ing Emi­rates Sky­Car­go, Lufthansa Car­go, Qatar Air­ways Car­go, Eti­had Car­go, and Turk­ish Air­lines Car­go, this  par­tic­i­pa­tion under­scor­ing the increas­ing glob­al inter­est in Africa’s air car­go poten­tial.

Allan Kilavu­ka, Kenya Air­ways group Man­ag­ing Direc­tor and CEO , not­ed that Car­go is more than just freight, it is the lifeblood of economies, the bridge between busi­ness­es, and the cat­a­lyst for glob­al growth.

“As glob­al sup­ply chains con­tin­ue to evolve, air car­go remains indis­pens­able in ensur­ing effi­cien­cy, speed, and reli­a­bil­i­ty in the move­ment of goods.For Africa, air car­go is not just about trade,it is about eco­nom­ic trans­for­ma­tion. It con­nects farm­ers to mar­kets, entre­pre­neurs to oppor­tu­ni­ties, and indus­tries to glob­al sup­ply chains.”  He Said

It also brought togeth­er gov­ern­ment and trade rep­re­sen­ta­tion, with agen­cies such as the Kenya Air­ports Author­i­ty (co-host), the Kenya Rev­enue Author­i­ty (KRA), and the Ship­pers Coun­cil of East­ern Africa (SCEA) play­ing active roles, their pres­ence high­light­ing the grow­ing impor­tance of reg­u­la­to­ry col­lab­o­ra­tion in improv­ing air freight logis­tics in Africa.

Kenya Air­ports Author­i­ty Board Chair­man Hon. Caleb Kosi­tany, said  that this sev­enth edi­tion of Air Car­go Africa, now held in con­junc­tion with the inau­gur­al Trans­port Logis­tics Africa, pro­vides an unpar­al­leled oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore inno­v­a­tive solu­tions that will shape the future of air car­go, trans­port, and logis­tics.

“This edi­tion under­scores the crit­i­cal role our sec­tor plays in dri­ving eco­nom­ic growth, fos­ter­ing region­al inte­gra­tion, and unlock­ing Africa’s immense poten­tial as a glob­al logis­tics hub. It  is very strate­gic for the growth and devel­op­ment of our avi­a­tion sec­tor, as it deliv­ers new busi­ness oppor­tu­ni­ties glob­al peper­spec­tive strong net­work­ing plat­forms and strength­ened net­work­ing cor­ri­dors with the African Con­ti­nent.” He remarked.

Mr, Emile  Arao, Direc­tor Gen­er­al of Kenya Civ­il Avi­a­tion Author­i­ty (KCAA), high­light­ed that the air car­go indus­try is poised for growth in 2025, dri­ven by robust demand, par­tic­u­lar­ly from e‑commerce, and evolv­ing mar­ket dynam­ics.

“Good news in the air car­go fore­cast involve the ever increas­ing demand and antic­i­pat­ed rev­enue pro­jec­tions. Appli­ca­tion of E‑commerce con­tin­ues to be a sig­nif­i­cant dri­ver to enhanced air car­go, with pro­jec­tions indi­cat­ing a 14% annu­al growth rate until 2026. The over­all Glob­al air car­go demand is expect­ed to increase by approx­i­mate­ly 4–6% year-on-year in 2025, out­pac­ing the pro­ject­ed capac­i­ty growth of 3–4%. The Inter­na­tion­al Air Trans­port Asso­ci­a­tion (IATA) antic­i­pates car­go rev­enues reach­ing $157 bil­lion in 2025, account­ing for 15.6% of total air­line rev­enues.” He not­ed .

Adding to the event’s glob­al appeal, the Ger­man Pavil­ion and Chi­nese exhibitors will be  show­cas­ing advanced logis­tics and trans­port solu­tions. More than 60 expert speak­ers are sched­uled to address crit­i­cal indus­try top­ics, includ­ing mul­ti-modal logis­tics, sus­tain­able freight solu­tions, and the impact of emerg­ing tech­nolo­gies on the future of logis­tics.

A key high­light of the con­fer­ence, is the ded­i­cat­ed Health and Human­i­tar­i­an Logis­tics (HHL) Forum, orga­nized in part­ner­ship with the Health and Human­i­tar­i­an Logis­tics Asso­ci­a­tion (HLA). This forum under­scores air cargo’s cru­cial role in deliv­er­ing med­ical sup­plies, vac­cines, and dis­as­ter relief across Africa. As human­i­tar­i­an efforts increas­ing­ly rely on air freight for time­ly and effi­cient deliv­ery, dis­cus­sions at this forum will help shape poli­cies and strate­gies for future inter­ven­tions.

Con­tin­u­ing  for two more days, promis­ing fur­ther engage­ment and ground­break­ing insights into Africa’s logis­tics future, the event  will also cel­e­brate out­stand­ing achieve­ments in air car­go, logis­tics, and sup­ply chain excel­lence. Indus­try lead­ers and inno­va­tors will be rec­og­nized for their con­tri­bu­tions to advanc­ing logis­tics capa­bil­i­ties in Africa.