AGGRESSIVE post-pandemic strategies by African airlines helped to grow their traffic faster than almost all other regional peers in 2023, according to newly released data.
An aggressive resumption of old routes, coupled with the opening of new ones and a growing transition from narrow to wide-body planes by most flag carriers, pushed African airlines’ annual traffic growth to 38.7% in 2023, compared to 2022.
As a result, African carriers ranked second ahead of the Middle East (33.3%) Latin America ( 28.6%), North America (28.3%) and Europe (22%), according to data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Only Asia-Pacific airlines beat African carriers, posting a whopping 126.1% rise in full-year international 2023 traffic compared to 2022.
The positive trajectory across all regions was marked by a strong industry-wide recovery, with a rebound in domestic and international travel. “The recovery in travel is good news. The restoration of connectivity is powering the global economy as people travel to do business, further their educations, take hard-earned vacations and much more,” said IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh.
African carriers continue to capitalise on the rising air travel demand prospects as they adopt new strategies to grow their passenger numbers while lowering their fleet management costs.
Kenya’s national carrier for instance said in July 2023 it was adopting ‘mono fleeting’ – a single-type fleet strategy as part of the airline’s long-term fleet and route development plans.
*The views of the above article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Africa Speaks 4 Africa or its editorial team.