According to IATA’s data for February 2025, Africa’s passenger traffic has increased while cargo demand is down.
The International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) latest updates on the passenger and air cargo markets, based on traffic and capacity data worldwide and by region for February 2025.
The increase in passenger numbers is good news for carriers operating services on the continent.
For the passenger market, during the period under review, African airlines
- saw a 6.7% year-on-year increase in demand.
- With capacity up 4.0% year-on-year.
- Achieving a 75.3% passenger load factor
- i.e. just over three quarters of the available seats were sold (a 2.0 ppt increase compared to February 2024)
By comparison, the global market
- saw demand improve by 2.6% year-on-year
- ahead of the 2.0% increase in capacity
- achieving an average 81.1% passenger load factor
- up +0.4 ppt on Feb 2024
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For the air cargo market, which is a strong barometer of international trade, African carriers
- saw a 5.7% year-on-year decrease year-on-year
- while capacity pulled back 0.6% for the same period
- resulting in cargo load factors falling by -2.3ppt to 42.3%
- i.e. less than half of the available revenue-generating cargo capacity was taken up
By comparison, the global market
- saw demand decline by 0.1% year-on-year
- the first decline since mid-2023
- with a 0.4% of capacity taken out of the market
- achieving an average 45.0% cargo load factor
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