IATA Rates African Airlines Low In Performance

African airlines have scored low in global industry performance rating for year 2015, particularly in the area of domestic passenger growth. The World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) recently released by The International Air Transport Association (IATA) showed that the African airlines accounted for only 2.2 per cent of the entire market share of passengers for the year under review.

The airlines were responsible for a total of 79.5 million passengers on scheduled services, an increase of 1.8 per cent over 2014.According to the statistics, being the yearbook of the airline industry’s performance, India, among the world’s largest domestic markets had the fastest domestic passenger growth in 2015.

With annual growth of 18.8 per cent (in a market of 80 million domestic passengers), India’s performance surpassed that of Russia (11.9 per cent growth, in a market of 47 million domestic passengers), China (9.7 per cent growth, in a market of 394 million domestic passengers) and the United States (5.4 per cent growth, in a market of 708 million domestic passengers).

IATA’s Director General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tony Tyler, said: “Last year airlines safely carried 3.6 billion passengers—the equivalent of 48 per cent of the Earth’s population—and transported 52.2 million tonnes of cargo worth around $6 trillion. In doing so, we supported some $2.7 trillion in economic activity and 63 million jobs.”

System-wide, airlines carried 3.6 billion passengers on scheduled services, an increase of 7.2 per cent over 2014, representing an additional 240 million air trips

Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region once again carried the largest number of passengers. The regional ranking (based on total passengers carried on scheduled services by airlines registered in that region) is: Asia-Pacific 34 per cent market share (1.2 billion passengers, an increase of 10 per cent compared to the region’s passengers in 2014); Europe 26.2 per cent market share (935.5 million passengers, up 6.7 per cent over 2014) and North America 24.8 per cent market share (883.2 million, up 5.2% over 2014).

Others are: Latin America 7.5 per cent market share (267.6 million, up 4.7 per cent); Middle East 5.3 per cent market share (188.2 million, an increase of 8.1 per cent) and Africa 2.2 per cent market share (79.5 million, up 1.8 per cent over 2014).

The top five airlines ranked by total scheduled passengers carried (domestic and international) were: American Airlines (146,5 million); Southwest Airlines (144.6 million); Delta Air Lines (138.8 million); China Southern Airlines (109.3 million) and Ryanair (101.4 million).

The top five international/regional passenger airport-pairs were all within the Asia-Pacific region: Hong Kong-Taipei (5.1 million, up 2.1 per cent from 2014); Jakarta-Singapore (3.4 million, down 2.6 per cent); Bangkok Suvarnabhumi-Hong Kong (three million, increase of 29.2 per cent); Kuala Lumpur–Singapore (2.7 million, up 13 per cent) and Hong Kong-Singapore (2.7 million, down 3.2 per cent).

The top five domestic passenger airport-pairs were also all in the Asia-Pacific region: Jeju-Seoul Gimpo (11.1 million, up 7.1 per cent over 2014); Sapporo-Tokyo Haneda (7.8 million, up 1.3 per cent); Fukuoka-Tokyo Haneda (7.6 million, a decrease of 7.4 per cent from 2014); Melbourne Tullamarine-Sydney (7.2 million, down 2.2 per cent) and Beijing Capital-Shanghai Hongqiao (6.1 million, up 6.1 per cent from 2014).

In the area of cargo, the global markets showed a 2.3 per cent expansion in freight and mail tonne kilometers (FTKs). This outstripped a capacity increase of 5.8 per cent decreasing freight load factor by 1.6 per cent.

The top five airlines ranked by total freight tonnes carried on scheduled services were: FedEx Express (7.1 million); United Parcel Service (4.5 million); Emirates Airline (2.5 million); Cathay Pacific Airways (1.6 million) and Korean Air (1.5 million).