The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released its global air travel report for May 2025, showing a 5% increase in total passenger traffic compared to May 2024.
IATA passenger growth report: Africa contributes 2% in world share
This growth is measured using a metric called Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK), which reflects the actual distance flown by paying passengers.
Passenger load factor, which tells us how full planes were, stood at 83.4% worldwide—a small drop of 0.1% from last year. This means that out of all the available seats across global airlines, just over 83% were filled on average.
Africa, which makes up just over 2% of the world’s air passenger traffic, recorded a notable 9.5% year-on-year increase in international travel demand.
African airlines also improved their seat occupancy, with the load factor rising to 74.9%—up 2.2 percentage points from last year. This suggests that more people are flying on the continent, and airlines are filling more of their seats.
The strongest growth corridor in the world is now the Africa-Asia route, which expanded by 15.9%—the fastest for any international air route.
In comparison, Asia-Pacific led globally with a 13.3% increase in international demand, while North America showed much slower growth, even registering a 0.5% drop overall. The US domestic market, in particular, was down by 1.7% due to economic pressures and cuts in government travel.
IATA Director General Willie Walsh commented that “forward bookings for the peak Northern summer travel season” are looking strong, signalling continued confidence from travellers despite regional issues like political instability in the Middle East.
What’s the latest in air travel?
The IATA report comes as South African Airways (SAA) announced the expansion of its flight network, including the launch of SAA direct flights to Mauritius. The airline also continues to operate flights to key regional hubs like Harare, Lusaka, and Windhoek, as well as maintaining its domestic service between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
SAA’s increased capacity fits within the broader trend of recovery and growth in air travel, especially in Africa.
According to the IATA report, while Africa’s share of global passenger traffic remains small, its growth rate shows that demand is steadily picking up.
For average travellers, this means more options for routes, possibly more competitive prices, and higher chances of finding available seats, especially during peak travel seasons.
Airlines are responding to this demand by increasing the number of flights and improving service reliability.
As the aviation sector continues to recover, regions like Africa are becoming more prominent players in global travel patterns, both in terms of traffic growth and international connectivity.