The Geneva-based trade association
representing over 230 international/global airlines said Africa posted a strong
rebound in February 2022 compared to January 2022 while Omicron-related impacts
moderated outside of Asia.
It added that the war in Ukraine, which
began on 24 February, did not have a major impact on traffic levels.
This was disclosed in a report on the IATA
website titled, ‘Passenger Recovery Accelerates in February.’
The report said total traffic in February
2022 was up by 115.9 per cent compared to February 2021. According to it,
domestic traffic was up 60.7 per cent compared to the year-ago period, building
on a 42.6 per cent increase in January 2022 compared to January 2021.
The report stated that African airlines had
a 69.5 per cent rise in February revenue passenger kilometres versus a year
ago, a large improvement compared to the 20.5 per cent year-over-year increase
recorded in January 2022 compared to the same month in 2021.
It added that in February 2022 African
capacity was up 34.7 per cent and load factor climbed 12.9 percentage points to
63.0 per cent.
IATA’s Director-General, Willie Walsh,
said, “The recovery in air travel is gathering steam as governments in many
parts of the world lift travel restrictions.
“States that persist in attempting to lock
out the disease, rather than managing it, as we do with other diseases, risk
missing out on the enormous economic and societal benefits that restoration of
international connectivity will bring.
“As the long-awaited recovery in air travel
accelerates, it is important that our infrastructure providers are prepared for
a huge increase in passenger numbers in the coming months. We are already
seeing reports of unacceptably long lines at some airports owing to the growing
number of travellers.
“And that is even before the surge of
Easter holiday travel in many markets next week. The peak Northern summer
travel season will be critical for jobs throughout the travel and tourism value
chain. Now is the time to prepare. Governments can help by ensuring that border
positions are staffed adequately and that background security checks for new
staff are managed as efficiently as possible.”