African airlines achieved a 74.3% load factor for international air travel in July 2024, meaning that over three-quarters of all available seats were filled.
This strong performance reflects a 7.4% year-on-year increase in demand, with airlines responding by expanding their capacity by 6.7%.
The load factor, which measures how efficiently airlines utilize their seating capacity, improved by 0.5% to July 2023, indicating growing efficiency and demand in the region’s international aviation market.
This data is obtained from the recently released International Air Transport Association (IATA) report on global air passenger demand for July 2024.
“African airlines saw a 7.4% year-on-year increase in demand. Capacity was up 6.7% year-on-year. The load factor rose to 74.3% (+0.5ppt compared to July 2023),” the report read in part.
The IATA report also provided the performance of airlines in other regions for July 2024, showing varied results. Asia-Pacific airlines saw a 19.1% year-on-year increase in demand, with capacity up by 20.3%, though their load factor slightly declined to 83.8%, down 0.8%.
European carriers had an 8.3% rise in demand, with an 8.1% increase in capacity, resulting in a load factor of 87.5%, a modest 0.2% improvement. Middle Eastern airlines reported a 5.8% increase in demand, with capacity up by 5.5%, leading to a load factor of 84.1%, up 0.3%.
North American carriers achieved the highest load factor at 89.4%, despite a 0.8% decrease, with demand rising by 5.3% and capacity by 6.3%.
Latin American airlines experienced a 13.4% increase in demand, with capacity climbing by 15.7%, though their load factor dropped to 87.5%, down 1.7%, with minimal impact from hurricane-related disruptions.
More insight
The IATA report provided an overview of global air passenger performance for July 2024, revealing significant growth across both international and domestic markets.
Total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), increased by 8.0% compared to July 2023, while total capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK), rose by 7.4% year-on-year.
The global load factor, reflecting the efficiency of seat utilization, reached 86.0%, an improvement of 0.5% from the previous year. Notably, the CrowdStrike IT outage on July 19 had no significant negative impact on overall demand.
International air travel saw a 10.1% rise in demand compared to July 2023, with capacity increasing by 10.5%. Despite this, the load factor slightly declined to 85.9%, a decrease of 0.3% from the previous year.
In the domestic market, demand grew by 4.8% year-on-year, with capacity expanding by 2.8%. The load factor for domestic flights improved to 86.1%, a 1.7% increase compared to July 2023.
