African airlines recorded a 14.9% increase in passenger demand in January 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
Capacity also grew by 11.2% year-on-year, with the load factor rising to 75.9%, marking a 2.4 percentage point increase from January 2024.
This indicates that more seats were available and a higher percentage of them were filled by passengers.
The data was obtained from the Global Passenger Demand Report for January 2025, recently released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
“African airlines saw a 14.9% year-on-year increase in demand. Capacity was up 11.2% year-on-year. The load factor rose to 75.9% (+2.4 ppt compared to January 2024),” the IATA report read in part.
The report highlighted robust growth across all international passenger markets, with Africa showing one of the strongest year-on-year gains.
The January 2025 figures showed that Africa outperformed several other regions in terms of demand growth, highlighting the continent’s growing role in global aviation. African airlines continued to expand capacity to meet rising demand, achieving a load factor of 75.9%, which was a notable improvement compared to the previous year.
More insight
Globally, total passenger demand rose by 10.0% compared to January 2024, with international demand up by 12.4%. The overall load factor for January 2025 was 82.1%, an all-time high for January, highlighting the continued recovery and growing confidence in air travel.
- Asia-Pacific airlines led global growth with a 21.8% year-on-year increase in demand. Capacity in the region rose by 16.5%, and the load factor reached 86.7%, the highest among all regions.
- Latin American airlines recorded a 12.9% rise in demand, but capacity grew even faster at 15.5%, leading to a slight drop in the load factor to 84.3%.
- Middle Eastern carriers saw a 9.6% increase in demand, supported by a 4.4% rise in capacity. The load factor was 83.8%, marking a 4.0 percentage point increase from January 2024. European airlines posted an 8.6% demand growth, with capacity up by 6.2% and a load factor of 79.2%.
- North American carriers reported the lowest demand growth among all regions, at 3.8% year-on-year. Capacity increased marginally by 0.6%, resulting in a load factor of 81.8%. Despite the slower growth, all regions except Latin America experienced year-on-year improvements in load factors.
- The overall global performance in January 2025 indicated a notable acceleration in demand, driven by strong performances from carriers in the Asia-Pacific region. According to Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA, the record high load factors pointed to persistent supply chain challenges in the aerospace sector.
He also noted that the strong growth in demand was consistent with IATA’s November 2024 passenger survey, which revealed that most travelers planned to maintain or increase their travel frequency over the next 12 months. Airlines effectively managed growing demand despite fleet and infrastructure constraints, maintaining high customer satisfaction levels.
