Int'l traffic of African airlines now exceeds pre-COVID-19 performance
With the reopening of the borders at the end of 2020, air traffic in the world, and in Africa, is progressing continuously. However, this growth has been affected by the increase in fuel prices since the beginning of the year.
On international routes, African airlines' operations have finally exceeded the pre-COVID-19 level by 0.31%. In addition, eight carriers on the continent have exceeded their pre-pandemic international routes. This is according to figures for October 2022, published by the Association of African Airlines (AFRAA) on Thursday 3 November.
Nevertheless, the crossing of this symbolic milestone remains for the moment limited to international traffic.
Overall, in October 2022, the traffic and capacity of the continent's airlines have reached 82.5% and 82.2% of the 2019 level respectively. The domestic market accounts for 37.6% of capacity and 32.8% of passengers carried. Intra-African transport represents 29.5% of traffic and 25.9% of capacity. Intercontinental traffic accounts for 37.6% and capacity for 34.7%.
On the financial side, AFRAA estimates that African carriers will lose US$3.5 billion in 2022 (due to COVID-19), or 20% of their revenues in 2019. The projected loss of revenue for the third quarter of this year is approximately US$800 million. This is partly due to the inflation of the price of Jet A1 (fuel). Year-to-date, the global average price per barrel is USD 142.1. The impact on the global airline fuel bill is estimated at $131.8 billion for the year 2022.
