Africa Weekly Aviation Trails: Week 32, 2025.

Introduction.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released its 2024 World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) report on August 4, 2025, revealing key trends shaping global aviation. Passenger traffic grew by 9.4% year-on-year, slightly trailing the global average growth of 11.5%, while the load factor improved by 0.7 percentage points to reach 82.6%. Premium class travel saw a significant increase, with business and first-class segments expanding by 11.8%, marginally outpacing the 11.5% growth recorded in economy class. The Asia-Pacific region led premium passenger growth at 22.8%, reaching 21 million travelers, while economy class demand surged even higher at 28.6%. The United States retained its status as the world’s largest aviation market, accommodating 876 million passengers, followed by China with 741 million—a robust 18.7% increase from 2023. Within Africa, the busiest air route was the domestic corridor between Cape Town International Airport (CPT) and O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg (JNB), which handled 3.3 million passengers.