International Travel Leads African Aviation Recovery As AFRAA Reveals Dominance Of Global Routes In 2024

International routes outperformed domestic services for African airlines in 2024, according to the African Airlines Association’s (AFRAA) latest annual report.

Data submitted by 30 AFRAA member airlines shows that African carriers transported more than 66 million passengers last year, representing 75% of all passenger traffic handled by African airlines.

Domestic traffic accounted for 27,2% of the total traffic, while international traffic comprised 68,3% of the total – with 25,8% on intra-Africa flights and 42,9% on intercontinental routes.

The countries with the highest passenger traffic in 2024 were Egypt (42,5 million), Morocco (28,4 million), South Africa (23,3 million), Algeria (11,8 million) and Tunisia (10,9 million).

The top five airlines by the number of passengers carried were:

1. Ethiopian Airlines – 17,4 million

2. EgyptAir – 10,5 million

3. Air Algérie – 7,9 million

4. Royal Air Maroc – 7,4 million

5. Kenya Airways – 3,9 million

Capacity and demand

AFRAA member airlines reported a total capacity of 209 billion Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs) in 2024, up from 202 billion in 2023. They also reported increased demand, with 144,7 billion Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) in 2024 compared with 143,6 billion RPKs recorded in 2023.

Air Algérie, Kenya Airways, Royal Air Maroc, EgyptAir and Ethiopian Airlines recorded the strongest growth in both capacity and demand.

Load factor

While the average international passenger load factor was 83,5%, according to IATA data, African airlines had a load factor of 75% in 2024. Among the reporting AFRAA members, the average passenger load factor was 74,5%.

Among the member airlines that reported on the passenger load factor, the top five airlines with highest average passenger load factors in 2024 were Jambojet at 80,4%, Air Mauritius at 79,8%, Nouvelair Tunisie at 78,4%, Royal Air Maroc at 77% and Kenya Airways at 75%.

Popular routes

In 2024, African airports experienced strong growth in passenger traffic, with Cairo, OR Tambo, Addis Ababa Bole, Casablanca Mohammed and Cape Town International Airport leading the continent in volume and connectivity.

The top-five domestic city pairs by passenger volumes were Johannesburg-Cape Town, Johannesburg-Durban, Abuja-Lagos, Cape Town-Durban and Cairo-Luxor.

The top-five regional city pairs were Mitiga-Tunis, Johannesburg-Harare, Benghazi-Tunis, Algiers-Tunis and Nairobi-Entebbe.

The top-five intercontinental city pairs were Cairo-Jeddah, Cairo-Riyadh, Algiers-Paris, Cairo-Kuwait City and Cairo-Medina.

Of the 30 AFRAA member airlines with reported data, 11 airlines opened routes to 40 new destinations, including 16 intra-Africa and intercontinental destinations.