In October, African airlines saw a 78.6% drop in traffic, an improvement from an 84.9% drop in September. Capacity contracted 67.5%, and load factors fell 23.8 percentage points to 45.5%.

This was highlighted during an Iata global media briefing yesterday (December 8) by Chief Economist, Brian Pearce.

Statistics showed that the overall recovery of passenger demand continued to be “disappointingly slow” in October. 

These were the major findings:

•        Total demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometres, or RPKs) was down 70.6% compared with October 2019. This was just a modest improvement from the 72.2% year-on-year decline recorded in September. Capacity was down 59.9% compared with a year ago and load factors fell 21.8 percentage points to 60.2%.
•        International passenger demand in October was down 87.8% compared with October 2019, virtually unchanged from the 88.0% year-on-year decline recorded in September. Capacity was 76.9% below previous year levels, and load factors shrank 38.3 percentage points to 42.9%.
•        Domestic demand drove what little recovery there was, with October domestic traffic down 40.8% compared with the previous year. This was an improvement from the 43.0% year-on-year decline in September. Capacity was 29.7% below 2019 levels and load factors dropped 13.2 percentage points to 70.4%. 

“Fresh outbreaks of COVID-19 and governments’ continued reliance on heavy-handed quarantines resulted in another catastrophic month for air travel demand. While the pace of recovery is faster in some regions than others, the overall picture for international travel is grim,” said Alexandre de Juniac, Iata Director General and CEO. 

“This uneven recovery is more pronounced in domestic markets, with China’s domestic market having nearly recovered, while most others remain deeply depressed.”