IATA: African airlines record 6.7% y-o-y increase in demand
BY CHUKWUEMEKE IWELUNMO
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for February 2025 global passenger demand for all the regions of the world.
According to the statistics, African airlines saw a 6.7% year-on-year increase in demand. Capacity was up 4.0% year-on-year. The load factor rose to 75.3% (+2.0 ppt compared to February 2024).
“While traffic growth slowed in February, much of this can be explained by factors including the leap year, and lunar new year falling in January compared to February last year. February traffic hit an all-time high, and the number of scheduled flights is set to continue increasing in March and April.
But we need to keep a close eye on developments in North America, which saw falls in both domestic and international traffic,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
Walsh noted that the recent shut-down of Heathrow reminded everyone once again that the current passenger rights regime in place in Europe and the United Kingdom is not fit for purpose, adding that the annual costs of compensation, care and assistance run into the billions.
“Thankfully, the Polish Presidency of the EU has recognized that this is a drag on European competitiveness and is progressing much-needed and long-anticipated reforms to EU261. While many of the proposed reforms are sensible, the package stops short of a real solution.”
He further stated that even with the reforms, EU261 will still target the airlines with penalties even if the root cause of delays is an infrastructure incident out of their control—like seen at Heathrow, stressing that over two decades of EU261 have not seen a reduction in delays because infrastructure providers have no incentive to improve their game.
“Sadly for European travelers, we are likely to see this play out again in this summer’s peak travel season. Genuine reform of EU261 must ensure that all parties responsible for delays have a stake in the consequences,” said Walsh.
While Africa airlines saw a 6.7% year-on-year increase in demand, European carriers had a 5.7% year-on-year increase in demand. Capacity increased 4.9% year-on-year, and the load factor was 75.5% (+0.5 ppt compared to February 2024).
North American carriers saw a -1.5% year-on-year fall in demand. Capacity decreased -3.2% year-on-year, and the load factor was 78.9% (+1.3 ppt compared to February 2024).
Middle Eastern carriers saw a 3.1% year-on-year increase in demand. Capacity increased 1.3% year-on-year and the load factor was 81.9% (+1.4 ppt compared to February 2024).
Asia-Pacific airlines achieved a 9.5% year-on-year increase in demand. Capacity increased 8.3% year-on-year and the load factor was 85.7% (+0.9 ppt compared to February 2024).
Middle Eastern carriers saw a 3.1% year-on-year increase in demand. Capacity increased 1.3% year-on-year and the load factor was 81.9% (+1.4 ppt compared to February 2024).
Latin American airlines saw a 6.7% year-on-year increase in demand. Capacity climbed 9.9% year-on-year. The load factor was 81.7% (-2.5 ppt compared to February 2024).
In a related development, African airlines saw a 5.7% year-on-year decrease in demand for air cargo in February with capacity decreased by 0.6% year-on-year.
The Trans-Pacific corridor remained the busiest trade lane in February. Intra-Asia led growth, becomes the fifth busiest. Europe–Asia and Transatlantic routes also expanded, while Middle East–Asia and European routes declined.
The IATA boss disclosed that February saw a small contraction in air cargo demand, the first year-on-year decline since mid-2023. Much of this he further explained by February 2024 being extraordinary—a leap year that was also boosted by Chinese New Year traffic, sea lane closures and a boom in e-commerce.
“Rising trade tensions are, of course, a concern for air cargo. With equity markets already showing their discomfort, we urge governments to focus on dialogue over tariffs,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General
