African airlines outpace flat global passenger market

African airlines grew international passenger demand by 6.4% year-on-year in July 2026, well ahead of a global aviation market that increased by just 0.2%, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Capacity among African carriers grew even faster, by 9%, resulting in a 1.8 percentage-point decline in international load factor to 74.1%.

Across all African traffic, including domestic markets, passenger demand increased by 5.2%, while capacity grew by 7.3%. The overall African load factor fell 1.5 percentage points to 75.1%.

The figures made Africa one of the strongest-performing regions during a month in which global passenger growth was held back by declines in the Middle East and North America.

Worldwide passenger demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), increased only 0.2% from July 2025. Capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), rose 0.3%, leaving the global passenger load factor fractionally lower at 85.2%.

The Middle East had the greatest impact on the global result. Passenger traffic across the region fell 10%, while capacity declined 6.2%. Among Middle Eastern airlines specifically, international demand fell 9.5% and capacity dropped 5.8%.

Removing the Middle East from the calculation gives a markedly different picture: global passenger demand increased 1.2%, while international demand rose 1.5%.

“The peak Northern summer travel season is a mostly positive story for air travel,” said Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA senior vice-president for sustainability and chief economist.

“Overall growth of 0.2% in July was achieved despite year-on-year collective declines by carriers in North America and the Middle East.”

She said traffic through Gulf hubs continued to recover and airlines were showing confidence in demand for the final months of the year, with seat capacity expected to expand by almost 3% in September.

Latin American airlines recorded the strongest international growth in July, with demand up 7.1% and capacity increasing 7.2%. European carriers grew international traffic by 3.1%.

Traffic between Europe and Asia surged 12.1%, making it the fastest-growing major international air corridor tracked by IATA.

North American airlines experienced a 2.3% fall in international passenger demand, matched by a 2.3% reduction in capacity. Traffic on the major transatlantic corridor fell 2.2%, with IATA reporting notable declines involving the UK, France and Spain.

Asia-Pacific airlines recorded a 0.7% decline in international demand, although capacity fell by a larger 1.7%, lifting their load factor by 0.9 percentage points to 84.5%.

Domestic aviation performed slightly better globally, with passenger demand increasing 0.6% year-on-year.

China’s domestic market grew 5.3% and Brazil increased 6%. India recorded the steepest decline among the major domestic markets measured by IATA, falling 6.3%, while domestic traffic in the United States slipped 0.5%.

Despite the weak headline global growth figure, airlines continue to prepare for increased travel towards the end of the year.

“Although high fuel costs, economic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions continue, carriers are expressing confidence in demand for the last part of the year with an almost 3% expansion of seat capacity in September,” said Owens Thomsen.