African airlines recorded the strongest air cargo demand growth globally in November 2025 with a 15.6 percent year on year increase, outpacing all other regions as global air freight maintained momentum heading into the year end holiday season.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data on January 8 showing total global demand, measured in cargo tonne kilometers (CTK), rose 5.5 percent compared to November 2024 levels. African carriers’ performance significantly exceeded this global average while capacity increased 18.1 percent year on year.
Willie Walsh, IATA director general, stated that air cargo demand grew 5.5 percent year on year in November 2025, boosted by shippers prioritizing timely delivery in the lead up to the year end holiday season. Strong emerging market demand and selective Middle Eastern growth more than made up for softness in the Americas amid ongoing adjustment to the new United States (US) tariff regime.
The cargo load factor for African airlines stood at 44.2 percent, representing a 0.9 percentage point year on year decline despite the strong demand growth. This indicates capacity expanded faster than demand on the continent.
Traffic in the Africa Asia trade lane grew 9.5 percent, marking the fifth consecutive month of growth. However, this comes off a low base and represents only 1.4 percent market share of the global air cargo industry. As a region, Africa accounts for 2.0 percent share of the total air cargo market.
Asia Pacific airlines saw 10.3 percent year on year growth in air cargo demand in November, the second strongest regional performance. Capacity increased 8.4 percent year on year in the region.
Middle Eastern carriers recorded 7.4 percent year on year increase in demand while capacity increased 11.0 percent. European carriers saw 5.8 percent year on year increase in demand with capacity rising 4.1 percent.
North American carriers experienced 1.6 percent year on year decrease in demand as capacity decreased 2.3 percent. Latin American and Caribbean carriers saw 4.8 percent year on year decrease in demand, the weakest performance of all regions, with capacity declining 3.0 percent.
Global capacity, measured in available cargo tonne kilometers (ACTK), increased 4.7 percent compared to November 2024, with international operations rising 6.5 percent. The global cargo load factor improved slightly by 0.4 percentage points to 49.1 percent.
Air freight volumes in November 2025 increased across all major trade corridors. The Europe Asia trade lane grew 11.7 percent, marking 33 consecutive months of growth, and represents 20.4 percent market share of the industry.
Within Asia traffic increased 15.8 percent, extending growth to 25 consecutive months. This trade lane accounts for 7.0 percent of global market share. The Asia North America corridor grew 1.8 percent and represents the largest single trade lane at 24.6 percent market share.
North America Europe traffic rose 5.0 percent, marking 22 consecutive months of growth, with 13.3 percent market share. Middle East Asia grew 11.1 percent for nine consecutive months with 7.3 percent market share, while Middle East Europe increased 5.4 percent with 5.6 percent market share.
Traffic within Europe declined 4.9 percent for four consecutive months, representing 2.0 percent of global market share.
Global goods trade grew 3.2 percent year on year in October according to IATA’s analysis. Jet fuel prices rose 5.9 percent in November despite falling crude prices, driven by refinery disruptions, European Union (EU) restrictions on Russian derived products and limited spare refining capacity.
Global manufacturing sentiment strengthened in November with the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rising for the fourth consecutive month to reach 51.17. New export orders improved slightly to 49.87 but remained below the 50 point expansion threshold, reflecting ongoing caution amid tariff uncertainty.
Walsh stated the fourth quarter for air cargo was resilient as strategic re routing of trade shaped performance across key markets. The strong end for 2025 bodes well for the air cargo industry as it enters the new year.
IATA represents approximately 360 airlines comprising over 80 percent of global air traffic. The statistics cover international and domestic scheduled air cargo for IATA member and non member airlines.
Total cargo traffic market share by region of carriers in terms of CTK is Asia Pacific 34.3 percent, North America 25.7 percent, Europe 21.5 percent, Middle East 13.6 percent, Latin America and the Caribbean 2.9 percent, and Africa 2.0 percent.
The data spans the period from 2012 to 2025 and is indexed to 2020 to reflect pandemic era shifts, with metrics normalized for comparability.
