Despite slump, African airlines report resilient outcome

CHUKWUEMEKE IWELUNMO

International Air Transport Association (IATA) said the recovery in air passenger volumes stalled towards the end of the year, as the industry-wide revenue passenger-kilometres (RPKs) fell by -70.3 per cent year-on-year in November – the same contraction as in the previous month.

The latest statistics compiled by IATA Economics using direct airline reporting complemented by estimates, including the use of FlightRadar24 data provided under license, African airlines’ traffic sank 76.7 per cent in November year-on-year.

According to IATA, the clearinghouse that represents some 290 airlines comprising 82 per cent of global air traffic said little changed from a 77.2 per cent drop in October, but recorded the best performance among the regions, just as capacity contracted 63.7 per cent while load factor fell 25.2 percentage points to 45.2 per cent.

Carriers based in Africa reported the most resilient outcome for another month, with international RPKs down 76.7 per cent year-on-year, compared to 77.2 per cent annual fall in October. The performance according to IATA was driven by smaller RPK declines on Africa-Middle East routes.

The poor performance was attributed to the resurgence of the virus and associated restrictions weighed on air travel recovery progress across many domestic and international markets.

IATA statistics cover international and domestic scheduled air traffic for IATA member and non-member airlines.

In 2019, total passenger traffic market shares by region of carriers in terms of RPK are Asia-Pacific 34.6 per cent, Europe 26.8 per cent, North America 22.3 per cent, Middle East 9.1 per cent, Latin America 5.1 per cent, and Africa 2.1 per cent.

Europe remained the most severely impacted region due to strict containment measures. That said, recovery accelerated for another month in Latin America.

While African carriers battled with a slump in air traffic, European carriers had their share of decline. They saw an 87.0 per cent decline in traffic in November versus a year ago, worsened from an 83 per cent decline in October. Capacity withered 76.5 per cent and load factor fell by 37.4 percentage points to 46.6 per cent.

Middle Eastern airlines’ demand plummeted 86.0 per cent in November year-to-year, which was improved from an 86.9 per cent demand drop in October. Capacity fell 71.0 per cent, and load factor declined 37.9 percentage points to 35.3 per cent.

North American carriers on the other hand had an 83.0 per cent traffic drop in November, versus an 87.8 per cent decline in October. Capacity dived 66.1 per cent, and load factor dropped 40.5 percentage points to 40.8 per cent.

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Asia Pacific airlines remained at the bottom of the contraction chart for the 5th consecutive month, with international RPKs down at 95 per cent year-on-year.

IATA’s Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Alexandre de Juniac said the already tepid recovery in air travel demand came to a full stop in November.

“That’s because governments responded to new outbreaks with even more severe travel restrictions and quarantine measures. This is inefficient. Such measures increase hardship for millions. Vaccines offer a long-term solution”.

“In the meantime, testing is the best way that we see to stop the spread of the virus and start economic recovery. How much more anguish do people need to go through—job losses, mental stress—before governments will understand that?” added de Juniac.