The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that African carriers’ international passenger demand rose 8.0% in September, even as capacity grew faster and airlines filled a smaller share of available seats.
Demand for international services rose 8.0% from a year earlier. IATA measures passenger traffic in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), which accounts for how far passengers travel. Seat supply, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK), climbed 8.8%. The passenger load factor — the portion of available capacity used — fell 0.6 percentage points to 74.8%.
Among the regions in IATA’s September comparison, only Latin America and the Caribbean posted a higher international demand gain, at 8.2%. For African carriers’ domestic and international operations combined, demand increased 5.0% and capacity expanded 7.7%. The load factor across both markets fell 1.9 percentage points to 73.5%. The 8.0% and 5.0% figures cover different scopes: the first is international traffic, while the second includes domestic services as well.
The 8.0% result applies to international passenger demand by airlines registered in Africa, not traffic only on routes within or serving the continent. IATA assigns each carrier’s traffic to the region where that airline is registered. Its statistics cover scheduled domestic and international service by both member and non-member airlines.
Worldwide, passenger demand was 0.5% below its year-earlier level in September. International demand grew 0.4%, while domestic demand decreased 2.2%. Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA Senior Vice President for Sustainability and Chief Economist, said the global decline reflected “weaknesses in the Middle East and North America.”
IATA said September’s figures are provisional, include estimates where data were missing and may be revised.
Thomsen also cited geopolitical uncertainty and volatile fuel prices as factors shaping the broader outlook. IATA’s Oct. 30 analysis projected global scheduled seat capacity to grow 0.6% year over year in October and 1.5% in November, based on schedules available at publication.
