The African Airlines Association has released a new analysis of the impact of COVID 19 on the airline industry in Africa which reveals an estimated revenue loss of USD 8.103 billion for African airlines for the year 2020.The impact assessment analysis further shows a 90.3% year on year passenger traffic reduction for the month of May; recovery is expected to start from Q3 2020 with domestic flights, followed by regional and intercontinental flights.
On cargo operations, there is currently a shortage of cargo capacity in Africa due to the need for carriage of medical equipment and essential goods. In the wake of this lack of capacity and rising prices, AFRAA is assisting its members to adapt in a bid to keep supply chains operational.
The evolution of the number of COVID-19 cases indicates that the most impacted countries in Africa are South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and Ghana each with a total of more than 5,000 cases of infection. While the rate of infections in other continents is beginning to ease off, in Africa the rate of infections is still on the rise. However, the recovery rate in Africa is higher, with an average death rate of 9% compared to the global rate of 19%.