Browsing: African Airlines

• Flight Capacity in 2024 increased by 6 per cent increase in available seats, rising from 15.1 million in May 2023
• In Kenya, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is leading efforts to validate draft aviation regulations aimed at enhancing safety and efficiency
• ASK combines the capacity of an airline’s fleet with the distance those planes fly, providing a comprehensive measure of available passenger capacity over a given period.

African Airlines witnessed a 6 per cent increase in available seats, rising from 15.1 million in May 2023 to 15.9 million in May 2024, attributed to introducing new routes and increased flight frequencies.

This comes at a time when the aviation industry experienced a dynamic start to 2024, grappling with a multitude of challenges and opportunities.

African Airlines Association’s (AFRAA)’s latest data shows high demand for Available Seat Kilometers (ASK) across all regional flights.

“Despite ongoing post-pandemic hurdles, the airline sector sustained

• African Airlines revenues for January 2024 were $ 1.83 billion compared to $1.56 billion in November 2023
• Available seats per kilometre (ASKs) also exceeded the level of March 2019 by 7.7 per cent.
• Open skies will boost intra-African connectivity and drive down airfares.

Investments among the continent’s carriers have begun to pay off as African Airlines Revenues and seat numbers hit a record high, a new report by African Airline Association (AFRAA) has shown.

The number of airline seats offered in the region has increased by 12.6 per cent to 16.1 million in March 2024, thanks to new routes and flight frequencies.

For the first time in four years, the industry surpassed pre-COVID-19 monthly figures of 14.3 million, recorded in March 2019.

The year 2024 is shaping up to be a significant year of recovery for the aviation industry. Airlines have regained their pre-Covid levels of capacity and traffic and …

• Kenya Airways losses for FY2023 have majorly stemmed from FX fluctuations.
• Despite the heightened operating costs, Kenya Airways achieved an operating profit of $79.4 million.
• International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts full recovery of the aviation industry from the Covid-19 crisis in 2024.

Kenya Airways net losses for the trading period ending December 2023 have dropped to $171.6 million (KES22.7 billion) majorly attributed to the forex exchange losses suffered during the review period.

The latest result is a 41 percent reduction from the $289.6million (KES38.3 billion) reported in 2022 in what the airline attributes to continuing efforts aimed at navigating KQ’s back onto the path to profitability.

These losses stemming from fluctuations in currency exchange rates (FX Losses), impacted the airline’s financial position, posting the greatest drawback to its financials with $181.4 million loss.

Kenya Airways Chief Executive Allan Kilavuka said that in the review period the airline increased flight …

• The performance of African airlines has shown significant improvement.
• In January 2023, African airlines’ Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPKs) were recorded at 2.06 per cent above the levels of the same month in 2019
• However, Tunisia’s decision to increase tourism tax without industry consultation could impact tourist arrivals.

The year 2024 is promising for Kenya’s National carrier, Kenya Airways and other African airlines as they are set to carry around 98 million passengers due to a steady rebound in air travel demand across the continent. Since November 2023, passenger traffic carried by African airlines has exceeded 2019 levels, signaling hope for the worst hit by the shutdowns in the aviation sector.

According to the data for January 2024 by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA), the performance of African airlines has shown significant improvement, signaling a positive trajectory for the region’s aviation sector.

With the 2023 annual airline performance yet to be …

• African carriers will post a loss of $638 million in 2022 and narrow it to $213 million in 2023, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has revealed 
• The African region is expected to serve 86.3% of pre-crisis demand levels with 83.9% of pre-crisis capacity
• Overall, the report noted that all regions’ financial performance continues to improve since the depth of the pandemic losses seen in 2020

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released new data indicating that African airlines will post a loss of $638 million in 2022 and narrow it to $213 million in 2023.

The report dubbed Economic Outlook & State of the Industry revealed that passenger demand growth of 27.4% in Africa is expected to outpace capacity growth of 21.9%. Further, IATA said that the region is expected to serve 86.3% of pre-crisis demand levels over the year with 83.9% of pre-crisis capacity.

Why African airlines

Airlines are expected to make big losses in 2020 with the challenges being experienced in containing new coronavirus variants and slower vaccination in some African countries according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

According to IATA, airlines are expected to post-tax losses of 47.7 billion in 2021 from the initial projection of $38 billion in December.

“Financial performance will be worse and more varied this year than we expected in our December forecast, because of difficulties in controlling the virus variants and slower vaccination in some regions,” said IATA.

The aviation sector is expecting $81 billion in cash burn despite large airlines having raised enough cash to cover for losses. IATA said that smaller airlines will need support from the government or to raise funds from banks or capital markets which will add to the debt burden and balance sheet leverage problem in the industry.

African airlines in 2020 …

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) highlighted three main priorities that governments in Africa can work on to ensure the survival of African aviation, travel and transport and be able to support economic growth, recovery and development.

IATA highlighted the priorities as: the safe reopening of borders, planning safe restart of operations and the release of committed aid and blocked funds as well as constant financial relief.

IATA noted that in 2020 African airlines received $2.04 billion in government aid which was mostly distributed through cash injections, direct government loans and equity financing. Despite this support, eight airlines in Africa filed for bankruptcy or entered into business administration last year.

In 2020, Air Mauritius (AM) was the first African airline to enter voluntary administration due to the pandemic. South African Airways (SAA) which racked up more than $3.9 billion in debt since 1994 followed as well as South African Express …

The African aviation is at a standstill according to a report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

According to IATA’S report, on May, 12^th African flights were operating at just six per cent of the level of January 2020. The report also states that African airlines total loss of revenue is at around $6 billion so far which means a GDP loss of about $28 billion and three million job loss in the industry.

Many African airlines have gone into administrations including  South African Airways, South African Express, Air Mauritius and South Africa’s Comair with others also expected to follow suit. Air Mauritius noted that the objective of going into voluntary administration is to safeguard the interests of the company and re-engineer its activities so it can take off again once this crisis is over.

Some of the airlines in African had already been struggling before the COVID-19 …

The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has brought the skies down, even the aviation industry is not safe from the virus wrath. In this case, the African aviation industry is vulnerable, as the international body predicted earlier that, the pandemic would hurt the sector hard, as carriers.

According to information from Bloomberg, Africa’s biggest carriers, Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airways and Kenya Airways are among national airlines staring at mounting losses and the destruction of growth plans put in place before the COVID-19 outbreak.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said last week, African carriers may lose $4 billion in 2020 revenue as demand for travel around the continent grinds to a halt.

All three of Africa’s biggest carriers have to find a resolution to ensure amicable solutions reach as carriers “will, in some shape or form, have to enter into conversations with their respective governments about bailouts,” Mike Mabasa, chairman …

The deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) which has now spread over 60, with 93,000 cases and more than 3,000 deaths in China, is projected to hurt the African airline landscape, taking away $40 million in revenue.

At the moment, Africa has witnessed confirmed cases in Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

The outbreak has made big-industrial players such as British Airlines, United Airlines, Cathay Pacific to trim their routes to various destination, including northern Italy, South East Asia, to evade further trouble with the virus.

On that line, African airlines have taken their own path to curb the scenario, as Tanzania’s emerging airline halted its scheduled flights to China, Kenya’s court order made Kenya Airways postpone flights to China, and Rwanda did the same.

However, Ethiopia faced criticism for not realizing the flights’ cancellation to China, like its fellow players.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global aviation …