BY Sade Williams/Business a.m
The International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) latest analysis of the passenger air travel market based on passenger data collected globally and by region in March 2022, shows the performance of African airlines during the month in review as follows:
Demand
International passenger traffic rose by 91.8% (measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometres, i.e. “RPKs”) versus March 2021
This, according to IATA, was an improvement compared to the 70.8% year-over-year increase recorded in February 2022 compared to the same month in 2021.
Combined international and domestic traffic (RPKs) rose by 76.4% vs Mar 2021.
Demand for air travel to, from and within Africa is challenged by low vaccination rates across the continent as well as impacts from rising inflation.
Supply
Available seat capacity (measured as Available Seat Kilometres i.e. ASKs) on international flights was up 49.9% in March 2022.
Combined international and domestic capacity (ASKs) was up 46.8% vs Mar 2021.
Take-up
Passenger Load Factor (PLF) on international flights climbed 14.1 percentage points to 64.5% in March 2022. (PLF is the percentage of available revenue-generating seats sold on the average flight)
Combined domestic and international PLF rose 11 percentage points to 65.7% in March 2022 vs March 2021.
Global market share
Africa accounts for 1.9% of the total global passenger air travel marke
