African airlines posted a 7.3 percent rise in international passenger demand in October 2025, according to new data released by the International Air Transport Association. The region’s carriers also increased capacity by 5.3 percent, while load factor climbed to 74.1 percent, up 1.4 points from October 2024.
Africa maintained the lowest load factor among all global regions, but the numbers reflect steady improvement in demand and utilisation through 2025.
IATA explained that capacity represents the number of available airline seats, while load factor measures how many of those seats were filled by passengers. The association confirmed that demand, capacity, and load factor all moved upward for Africa during the period.
Global air travel strengthened in the same month. Total passenger demand rose 6.6 percent, supported by a 5.8 percent increase in capacity. Airlines reached a global load factor of 84.6 percent. International demand grew 8.5 percent, surpassing domestic traffic growth of 3.4 percent as holiday bookings and business travel intensified.
IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh, said October delivered strong performance across most regions. He added that scheduled seat capacity is expected to expand in November and December, noting that air travel remains resilient despite uncertainty in the global economic outlook for 2026.
Across other regions, Asia-Pacific carriers recorded an international demand increase of 10.9 percent, with capacity up 9.1 percent and a load factor of 84.4 percent. Middle Eastern airlines saw a 10.7 percent rise in demand, supported by 8.1 percent growth in capacity and an 82.5 percent load factor.
European airlines posted 7.4 percent growth in international demand, while capacity rose 6.0 percent and load factor reached 86.5 percent. Latin American carriers recorded a 7.2 percent increase in demand, although their load factor slipped to 84.6 percent due to higher seat availability.
North American airlines saw demand grow 4.5 percent, with capacity up 4.7 percent and load factor at 84.2 percent, a slight decline from last year.
The data shows that although Africa continues to grow steadily, the region still trails other parts of the world in demand levels and capacity utilisation.
