African airlines record 124% passenger traffic growth – IATA

African airlines have recorded a 124 per cent growth in passenger traffic in the past year, the  International Air Transport Association has said.

The Switzerland-based IATA, which represents international airlines globally, said the recovery in air travel demand was continuing in 2023, based on January traffic results.

It said that in January 2023, African airlines’ passenger traffic rose by 124 per cent.

“African airlines’ traffic rose 124.8 per cent in January 2023 versus a year ago. January capacity was up 82.5 per cent and load factor climbed 13.9 percentage points to 73.7 per cent, the lowest among regions,” IATA said in a statement on Wednesday.

Globally, traffic is now at 84.2 per cent of January 2019 levels with domestic traffic for January 2023 rising up to 32.7 per cent compared to the prior year, according to the airline body.

It said the growth was aided by the lifting of the zero-COVID policy in China. Total January 2023 domestic traffic was at 97.4 per cent of the January 2019 level.

Also, IATA said international traffic climbed by 104.0 per cent versus January 2022 with all markets recording strong growth, led by carriers in the Asia-Pacific region. International RPKs reached 77.0 per cent of January 2019 levels.

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