The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced its global passenger traffic results for February 2019, showing that African airlines experienced a 2.5 per cent rise in traffic for the month compared to the same period in 2018, this was down from 5.1 per cent growth in January.
The IATA report also said African airlines’ capacity rose by 0.3 per cent, while load factor climbed by 1.5 percentage points to 69.7 per cent.
The IATA report also said concerns over conditions in the largest economies (Nigeria and South Africa) are contributing to the slowdown in African airlines growth.
For the global picture, February international passenger demand rose 4.6 per cent compared to February 2018, which was a slowdown from 5.9 per cent growth in January. Capacity climbed 5.1 per cent, and load factor dropped 0.4 percentage point to 79.5 per cent. Airlines in all regions but the Middle East showed traffic growth versus the year-ago period.
“This was the slowest rate of growth in more than a year, but still in line with long-term demand trends. Monthly capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased by 5.4 per cent, and load factor slipped 0.1 percentage point to 80.6 per cent, which is still high by historic standards,”said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
“After January’s strong performance, we settled down a bit in February, in line with concerns about the broader economic outlook. Continuing trade tensions between the US and China, and unresolved uncertainty over Brexit are also weighing on the outlook for travel,” de Juniac added.
European carriers showed the strongest performance for a fifth consecutive month in February. Passenger demand increased by 7.6 per cent, compared to a year ago, unchanged from January. Europe’s continuing strong performance provides a paradox given Brexit concerns and signs of a softer economic outlook.