African airlines recorded a 4.1 per cent increase in passenger traffic in August compared to the same period in 2018, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) disclosed on Thursday.
IATA’s Director-General, Alexandre de Juniac, said the traffic climbed from 3.2 per cent recorded by the airlines in July.
“This solid performance comes after South Africa – the region’s second largest economy – returned to positive economic growth in Q2 2019.
“Capacity rose 6.1 per cent, however, and load factor dipped by 1.4 percentage points to 75.6 per cent,” he said in a statement.
He said global passenger traffic data for August 2019 showed that demand climbed 3.8 per cent compared to the year-ago period.
He said this was above the 3.5 per cent annual increase for July, adding that August capacity also increased by 3.5 per cent.
de Juniac said load factor climbed 0.3 per cent percentage point to 85.7 per cent, which was a new monthly record, as airlines continue to maximise asset use.
He said: “While we saw a pick-up in passenger demand in August compared to July, growth remains below the long-term trend and well-down on the roughly 8.5 per cent annual growth seen over the 2016 to Q1 2018 period.
“This reflects the impact of economic slowdowns in some key markets, uncertainty over Brexit and the trade war between the U.S. and China.
Nonetheless, airlines are doing a great job of matching capacity to demand. With passenger load factors reaching a new high of 85.7 per cent, this is good for overall efficiency and passengers’ individual carbon footprint.”
