“The market for air travel is hot, and airlines are doing a great job at meeting the growing demand for travel,” says Willie Walsh, IATA DG, regarding the airlines’ association’s  August 2024 statistics. But he foresees a capacity crunch in infrastructure on the horizon, which could restrict connectivity.

IATA has reported record load factors for the global passenger airline industry in August, reaching 86.2%. This marks a 1.6 percentage point increase over August last year.

African airlines’ passenger demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, increased by 10.1% y-o-y, while the global airline industry reported growth of 8.6%.

Global airlines’ total capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, was up 6.5% y-o-y, while African airlines’ capacity increased by 7.3%.

“Efficiency gains have driven load factors to record highs, while the 6.5% capacity increase demonstrates resilience in the face of persistent supply chain issues and infrastructure deficiencies,” says Walsh.

But he warns that the continued strong demand growth signals that the airline industry could be fast approaching an infrastructure capacity crunch that would restrict connectivity and choice for passengers and businesses.

“If governments want to maximise the benefits of aviation, they must take bold decisions to ensure sufficient infrastructure capacity. And, in the interim, both airports and air navigation service providers need to do more with the resources they currently have.

“In particular, the variance in the declared capacity of airports with broadly the same infrastructure needs to be resolved, with airports emulating the best performers. The industry cannot afford to underutilise our airport infrastructure,” concludes Walsh.