Nigeria, other African countries’ record 6.3% air passenger surge in February—IATA
There is a record rise in Nigeria and other African nations’ passengers’ traffic in the month of February to the tune of 6.3 per cent. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for February.
IATA argued that the latest results showed a rebound in traffic growth following the slower demand experienced in January, due to temporary factors including the later timing of the Lunar New Year in 2018.
According to the international association, the growth occurred as a result of improvement in the region’s economy.
On why Nigeria recorded strong business activities in the aviation sub sector within the period under review, IATA averred that “Business confidence in Nigeria has risen sharply over the past 15 months while a reduction in political uncertainty in South Africa has contributed to an improvement in business confidence for the first time in more than a year. Capacity rose 3.3 per cent, and load factor climbed 1.9 percentage points to 67.8 per cent”.
Additional details from IATA noted that the total revenue passenger kilometres for the month rose 7.6 per cent, compared to February 2017, and up from 4.6 per cent year-over-year growth in January.
While revealing that monthly capacity increased by 6.3 per cent, and load factor rose 0.9 percentage point to 80.4 per cent, thus; surpassing the previous record for the month of 79.5 per cent, which was set in February 2017.
Views expressed by the IATA’s Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Alexandre de Juniac, indicated that the growth was supported by solid business confidence especially in Africa and Nigeria in particular.
He said “As expected, we saw a return to stronger demand growth in February, after the temporary slowdown in January. This is being supported by the robust economic backdrop and solid business confidence. However, increases in fuel prices and labour costs in some countries likely will temper the amount of traffic stimulation from lower airfares this year”.
On other continents’ statistics within the period, European carriers saw February demand increase by 6.8 per cent compared to a year ago while Asia-Pacific airlines’ February traffic rose 9.1 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.
For Middle East carriers, IATA said there was a 3.4 per cent demand increase in February compared to a year ago, while North American airlines and Latin American airlines’ passenger demand rose by 7.2 per cent and 9.8 per cent, respectively.
de Juniac argued further that “All around the globe, we see the same positive picture of growth in demand for aviation connectivity”.
