African airlines recorded 21% rise in passenger traffic Nov. 2023 –IATA

By Chinelo Obogo

African airlines had a 22.1% rise passenger traffic in November 2023, versus a year ago, making it the second highest rate globally, International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said. The airlines’ November 2023 capacity was up 29.6% and load factor fell 4.3 percentage points to 69.7%, the lowest among regions.

In the data for November 2023 released by IATA, Asia-Pacific airlines had a 63.8% rise in traffic compared to November 2022, which was the strongest year-over-year rate among the regions. Capacity rose 58.0% and the load factor was up 2.9 percentage points to 82.6%, while European carriers’ traffic climbed 14.8% versus November 2022. Capacity increased 15.2%, and load factor declined 0.3 percentage points to 83.3%.

Middle Eastern airlines saw an 18.6% traffic rise compared to November 2022. November capacity increased 19.0% versus the year-ago period, and load factor fell 0.2 percentage points to 77.4%, while North American carriers experienced a 14.3% traffic rise versus the 2022 period. Capacity increased 16.3%, and load factor fell 1.4 percentage points to 80.0%. Latin American airlines’ traffic rose 20.0% compared to the same month in 2022. November capacity climbed 17.7% and load factor increased 1.7 percentage points to 84.9%, the highest of any region.

Globally, air travel reached 99% of 2019 levels as total traffic in November 2023 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose 29.7% compared to November 2022. Globally, traffic is now at 99.1% of November 2019 levels.

 International traffic rose 26.4% versus November 2022. The Asia-Pacific region continued to report the strongest year-over-year results (+63.8%) with all regions showing improvement compared to the prior year. November 2023 international RPKs reached 94.5% of November 2019 levels.  Domestic traffic for November 2023 was up 34.8% compared to November 2022. Total November 2023 domestic traffic was 6.7% above the November 2019 level.

IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh, said:  “We are moving ever closer to surpassing the 2019 peak year for air travel. Economic headwinds are not deterring people from taking to the skies. International travel remains 5.5% below pre-pandemic levels but that gap is rapidly closing. And domestic markets have been above their pre-pandemic levels continuously since April.”