Africa's cargo queen

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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) put a smile on the faces of airline executives around the world this summer, when it forecast a record-breaking net profit of $29.3 billion for the industry in 2015.

A combination of robust economic growth, rising business confidence, and falling fuel prices has delivered a bumper year for airlines – even with uncertainty in cargo markets dampening the mood.

Yet when IATA's profit forecast is broken down by region, the disparities are stark. The industry group estimates that African carriers will scrape by with a collective net profit of just $100 million this year. Indeed, simply staying in the black may prove to be an achievement, with four of the continent's largest carriers – Kenya Airways, South African Airways, EgyptAir and Tunisair – haemorrhaging money at an alarming rate.

All the more remarkable, then, that Ethiopian Airlines, Africa's single biggest carrier by traffic and fleet size, managed to achieve a net profit of $175 million for the 2014/15 fiscal year...

Turkish delights

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The Turkish civil aviation sector tends to receive less publicity than its counterparts in the Persian Gulf, but statistics on its growth are no less impressive.

Since deregulation in 2003, Turkey’s commercial fleet has almost tripled in size to 430 aircraft. More than 166 million passengers passed through the country’s airports last year – a 10.6% increase that secured fourth place for Turkey in a ranking of Europe's largest aviation markets, trailing behind only the UK, Germany and Spain.

Cargo traffic has kept pace with passenger growth, aided by the export-driven economic boom of recent years...