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· The Zambian Government has continued with the policy of waiving tax on imported fuel and foregoing millions in tax revenues into the 2022 budget cycle
· This policy was followed by the earlier regime, which analysts opine was a part of its election strategy to hold the price line.
The battle for the air freight market share among African airlines is at a feverish pitch for wrong reasons. It was mostly due to disruptions caused by Covid-19 on ocean freight rates and shortage of containers. As a result, many airlines are now upgrading their fleets to haul more freights.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said demand for air freight had stayed above pre-crisis levels. African airlines saw international cargo volumes increase by 26.7 percent at the end of last year. This incidentally is the largest increase of all regions. International capacity was 9.4 percent higher than pre-crisis levels. Africa is the only region in positive territory, though the volumes hauled are small.
Apart from cost and efficiency, time to receive consignments has boosted the air freight business considering persistent road and ocean delays. Airfreight apart from ensuring speedy movement of goods, avoids barricades which are common at borders, which are time consuming. That is why some of the importers prefer air freight though costly but have a lot of logistic advantages. That is why it is preferred even over road transport.
