Aviation: African passenger demand rises

African airlines reported continuing growth in passenger demand in September, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said in its latest survey issued yesterday. It reported growth of 6.9 percent in passenger numbers compared with a year earlier, while the number of available seats grew by 7.4 percent as airlines increased their capacity, pushing down the passenger load factor by 0.3 percentage points to 73.2 percent. Iata economists attributed the increasing demand to strong growth in a number of African economies. But the bad news is that the European Parliament and European Commission are proposing to apply the EU emissions trading scheme to all flights to and from Europe. – Audrey D’Angelo