African airlines achieved strong growth in passenger traffic of 7.1% year-on-year in February, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said on Thursday.

This mainly reflected the upturn on the key route to and from Europe, offsetting struggles in the region’s biggest economies, Nigeria and South Africa. Capacity rose 2.3%, and load factor jumped 2.9 percentage points to 66%.

Meanwhile, Iata highlighted that, despite the year opening with some shocks – including the attempted ban on travel to the US by citizens of six countries and the restrictions on the carry-on of large electronic items from certain airports in the Middle East and North Africa on direct flights to the US and the UK, global passenger demand rose by 5.8% year-on-year in February.

This was, however, lower than the 9.1% year-on-year increase recorded for January.

Adjusting for the leap year, however, growth actually accelerated slightly compared to January. Total capacity climbed 3.4%, and load factor rose 1.8 percentage points to 78.4%.

“The strong demand momentum from January has continued, supported by lower fares and a healthier economic backdrop. Although we remain concerned over the impact of any travel restrictions or closing of borders, we have not seen the attempted US ban on travel from six countries translate into an identifiable traffic trend. Overall travel demand continues to grow at a robust rate,” said Iata director-general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac.

"It’s intolerable that governments continue to add to the uncertainties facing the air transport industry by failing to engage airline operational know-how on issues that can damage public confidence. The introduction of restrictions on the carry-on of large electronic devices was a missed opportunity and the result was a measure that cannot stand up to the scrutiny of public confidence in the long term," said De Juniac.