African airlines have emerged as a significant force in the global aviation sector, recording about 16 per cent growth in passenger demand in June 2024.
This growth, reported by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), highlights the resilience and expanding footprint of African carriers amid a global recovery in air travel.
This strong performance in Africa is measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPK), reflecting the total distance travelled by all paying passengers.
The capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometers (ASK), also saw a healthy increase of 5.8 per cent, while the load factor—indicative of how effectively airlines are filling their seats jumped by 6.9 percentage points to 77.1 per cent. This improvement in load factor is the largest among all regions.
Globally, passenger demand rose by 9.1 per cent in June 2024 compared to the same month last year, with capacity growing by 8.5 per cent. The overall global load factor remained robust at 85.0 per cent, signalling a balanced recovery across both international and domestic markets. Notably, international travel demand showed strong resilience, with a 12.3 per cent year-on-year increase.
The Asia Pacific region continues to lead in growth, with a 22.6 per cent rise in RPK levels, driven by sustained demand on most routes, except for the Asia-Middle East corridor, which saw a lower year-on-year growth of 10.1 per cent.
“Despite this, the Asia-Middle East route remains the third most significant for the Asia Pacific region in terms of RPK, following intra-Asia and Asia-Europe routes. Within Asia, routes maintained double-digit growth, reflecting robust seat demand across almost all route pairs.
The Africa-Asia route stood out with a 38.1 per cent year-on-year increase, making it the fastest-growing regional pair globally. This growth was followed by international traffic within Asia, which rose by 29.2 per cent. The consistent demand across these routes underlines the strong recovery in international travel and the increasing connectivity between Africa and Asia.
IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh, commented on the positive market dynamics, stating, “Demand grew across all regions as the peak Northern summer travel season began in June. With overall capacity growth lagging in demand, we saw a very strong average load factor of 85 per cent achieved in both domestic and international operations.
“Operating with such high load factors is both good and challenging. It makes it even more important for all the stakeholders to operate with equal levels of efficiency to minimize delays and get travellers to their destinations on schedule.” (Source: nairametrics)
