How airline passenger traffic recovered across seven African countries

The 2020 fall was visible across the seven countries

Passenger counts fell between 2019 and 2020 in each series. South African-registered airlines went from 26.21 million to 8.30 million. Kenyan-registered carriers went from 6.42 million to 1.87 million. The histories use a shared scale so the size of each fall can be compared directly. Source 1 Source 3

Egypt and Ethiopia surpassed their earlier levels

The 2023 passenger count was about 16.67 million for airlines registered in Egypt, compared with 13.21 million in 2019. For Ethiopia the figure rose from 12.63 million to 15.27 million over the same period. A trend in registered-carrier passengers describes the airlines’ activity across their networks. Source 1 Source 3

Morocco and Rwanda came close to 2019

The 2023 value for Morocco was about 9.35 million, close to its 2019 count of 9.38 million. Rwanda’s 1.54 million was also close to its earlier 1.56 million. These cases look different from South Africa’s 15.45 million in 2023, about 59% of its 2019 total. Source 1

Country of registration determines which total gets the journey

The series assigns passenger counts to the country in which the airline is registered, even if the journey begins or ends abroad. Domestic and international journeys both count. Connecting passengers can appear under more than one flight number, so the number measures traffic rather than distinct travellers. Source 3

Route-level data answer a different question

An airport’s passenger total includes airlines registered in other countries. To measure travel between African countries, a researcher needs an origin and destination breakdown or a count of passengers on routes that cross an African border. The registration series provides a way to compare carriers over time. Source 3

Sources

• ICAO Civil Aviation Statistics via World Bank WDI
• World Bank data API, selected countries and years
• World Bank indicator definition and ICAO methodology