Early Boost for 2024: Air Passenger Demand Up 16.6%

Africa & Middle East regions: Passenger demand up 18.5% and 16.2% in January 2024.

Air travel passengers
Photo/ ©AFRVIATOR

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported air passenger demand in January 2024 surged 16.6% compared to January 2023 – indicating an early boost for the year.

Total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs), was up 16.6%; total capacity, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK), was up 14.1%; and the load factor was 79.9% (+1.7pt).

International demand rose 20.8%; capacity was up 20.9% and the load factor remained at 79.7% (+0.0pt).

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Domestic demand rose 10.4%; capacity was up 4.6% and the load factor was 80.2% (+4.2pt).

Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, highlighted the positive trend:  

“2024 is off to a strong start despite economic and geopolitical uncertainties,” he said. “[…] We will be looking to governments for policies that help aviation to reduce costs, improve efficiency and make progress towards net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.”

Air Travel Passenger Markets – MEA

IATA reports, the Middle East continued its positive trajectory with a 16.2% year-on-year traffic increase for January 2024.

Capacity growth kept pace at 15.7%, resulting in a slight increase in load factor to 79.9%.

Africa region also saw a healthy traffic increase of 18.5% compared to January 2023.

However, capacity growth outpaced demand at 19.2%, leading to a small decline in load factor to 73.3%, the lowest among all regions.

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