Africa: 7.7% more air travellers expected by 2014

Global passenger numbers are expected to rise to 3.3 billion in 2014, up 32 percent from 2.5 billion in 2009, helped by the growing demand for flights in China, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Monday (14 Feb 2011). By 2014 international aviation will also handle 38 million tonnes of air cargo, up 12.5 million tonnes from the 26 million tonnes carried in 2009.

China will be the biggest contributor of new travelers. Of the 800 million new travelers expected in 2014, 360 million (45%) will travel on Asia Pacific routes and of those 214 million will be associated with China (181 million domestic and 33 million international). The United States will remain the largest single country market for domestic flights (671 million passengers) and international flights (215 million passengers).
Africa is expected to see international passenger growth of 7.7%, the second highest (#1 Middle East 9.4%) of the world regions. International cargo demand is expected to be 5.8%, the lowest among the regions.
The top five countries for international travel by 2014, measured by number of passengers, will be:

• United States (at 215 million, + 45 million)
• United Kingdom (at 198 million, + 33 million)
• Germany (at 163 million, plus 29 million)
• Spain (123 million, + 21 million)
• France (111 million, +21 million)