Despite a growth in passenger numbers at the country’s nine airports overall air travel remained under strain in the fourth quarter of 2017 according to the Airports Company South Africa’s quarterly Aviation Barometer published this week.

The Barometer, which provides an indication of current air travel trends in South Africa, is based on the count of passengers using the network of nine airports owned and managed by ACSA. The Barometer compares arrivals and departures in the latest quarter with the same quarter of the previous year.

Slight growth

According to the Barometer nearly 11 million arriving and departing passengers used South Africa’s main airports in the fourth quarter, an increase of 321 000 over the fourth quarter of 2016. In addition growth in passenger numbers was just over 3% in the fourth quarter of 2017.

“A highlight of the peak holiday season was the continued extraordinary growth in international passengers at Cape Town International Airport,” the company says. International arrivals went up by 13.85% and international departures experienced a 15.69% growth in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2016.

With that being said overall, domestic air travel remained under strain, with an increase of 2.60% for arrivals and 2.76% for departures in the fourth quarter of 2017.

International and regional numbers climb

On the international front arrivals increased by 3.80% to 1 568 230 passengers while departures rose by a 4.38% to 1 589 309 passengers. Regionally, which includes Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho, arrivals are up by 1.70% to 147 132 passengers, arrivals are up by 1.70% to 147 132 passengers and so are departures by 1.20% to 141 186 passengers.