Airfreight volumes at Abidjan’s Felix-Houphouet-Boigny International Airport have been rising at steady rates over the past few years.
Figures provided to Air Cargo Week by airport operator AERIA show that freight tonnage increased from 20,774 tonnes in 2015 to 24,794 tonnes in 2018.
Freight on non-freighter aircraft rose from 15,020 tonnes in 2015 to 16,559 tonnes in 2018. Cargo aircraft volumes were up from 5,754 tonnes to 8,235 tonnes.
Between January and September, 19,228 tonnes have travelled via the airport serving the capital of the Ivory Coast, with 11,654 tonnes on non-freighter aircraft and 7,574 tonnes in freighters.
Industrial machines and apparatus remain the biggest import at Abidjan, followed by machinery and appliances, ceramic work, dairy products and pharmaceuticals.
Agricultural products are the main export, followed by chemicals, beauty products, plastics and gold.
Paris Charles de Gaulle remains the primary cargo destination, though figures in recent years have been up and down.
In 2015, 6,279 tonnes travelled between Paris CDG and Abidjan before passing the 7,000 tonnes barrier in 2016 and 2017, then going down to 6,349 tonnes in 2018.
Abidjan also has connections to Paris Orly, with freight almost tripling from 1,026 tonnes in 2015 to 2,880 tonnes in 2018.
At other European destinations, Luxembourg was 3,248 tonnes in 2015 before falling below 3,000 tonnes for 2016 and 2017, then hitting 3,192 tonnes in 2018. Brussels, Belgium has remained stable, handling 2,517 tonnes in 2015 and 2,516 tonnes in 2018.
Accra in Ghana is the busiest African trading partner with freight traffic more than tripling from 580 tonnes to 1,874 tonnes.