South African carrier FlySafair is continuing to operate as normal after a regulator gave it 12 months to rectify an earlier breach of local ownership requirements. The carrier says in a 4 February statement that the Air Services Licensing Council ruled in December that it did not meet a legal requirement to have 75% of its shareholder voting rights held by "natural persons who are citizens and residents of South Africa". That ruling followed a complaint by rival carrier Lift Airlines, with the Council ruling in mid-January that FlySafair's structure of South African trusts and companies was not compliant with the Air Services Licensing Act. FlySafair is controlled by Dublin-based ASL Aviation Holdings, which is itself owned by STAR Capital Partnership. The airline says it has been given a year to align with the requirements, but adds that it has been given "specific guidance on what compliance should look like". Nonetheless, chief marketing officer Kirby Gordon says: "We will do everything in our power to ensure compliance in these 12 months." Fleets data shows that the airline has a fleet of 37 Boeing 737s, comprised of 38 737-800s, five -400s and one cargo-configured -400. FlySafair operates around 60% of domestic seat capacity in South Africa this month, schedules data shows, followed by Airlink with around 15%. Lift, meanwhile, operates around 6.3% of seats in the market. FlySafair also operates international flights to Mauritius, Windhoek, Victoria Falls, Harare and Zanzibar.

Passenger load factor for Asia Pacific carriers hit a record 81.6% across 2024 as demand remained strong but the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) expects that growth will moderate this year. The region's airlines carried a combined 365 million international passengers, up 31% year on year, preliminary figures from the association of show. That helped to push RPKs up 28% as ASKs increased 27%, delivering a 0.9 percentage point lift in load factor, despite challenges for airlines that have faced ongoing supply chain shortages and aircraft delivery delays, AAPA director general Subhas Menon. "The post-pandemic recovery on North East Asia routes, helped by the relaxation of visa policies, together with overall healthy demand across the region, drove growth in both leisure and business travel markets," he adds. On the cargo front, demand grew 15%, which was almost in line with the growth in freight capacity, keeping load factor broadly stable at 61%. "Despite weakness in the global manufacturing sector, Asia Pacific carriers saw significant growth in their air cargo business, driven by a surge in e-commerce sales and the region's role as a manufacturing hub, particularly in China. Persistent disruptions in maritime shipping also encouraged a modal shift in transport, contributing to the 15% growth in international air cargo demand for the year," says Menon. He adds that the outlook for air travel markets in 2025 remains broadly positive, although growth rates are expected to moderate further. "However, airlines continue to face challenges, including rising labour, maintenance, and aircraft leasing costs, as well as operational pressures due to ongoing delays in aircraft deliveries. To navigate these challenges, airlines are focusing on active cost management and seeking the commitment of equipment suppliers to address supply chain problems, while continuing to invest in growth opportunities."

Market watchers should not get "mixed up" with the idea that Lufthansa's decision to buy a stake in Latvian carrier Air Baltic is a bid for greater consolidation, the German group's chief executive Carsten Spohr has cautioned. During a webcasted press conference in Rome on 3 February, Spohr explained that the deal was instead about "strengthening and deepening" Air Baltic's position as a wet-lease provider to Lufthansa. This makes it distinct from the group's successful bid for ITA and any potential offer for Portugal's TAP, which it has rationalised as being about finding synergies across the companies and building up its hubs to connect with long-haul traffic. Air Baltic is providing Lufthansa Group with up to 21 Airbus A220-300s during the summer and five during the winter through 2025, under a deal signed in September 2024. Following the engine-maintenance issues that prompted the Latvian carrier to cancel swathes of its services this summer, Lufthansa announced on 29 January that it had paid €14 million ($14.5 million) for a 10% stake in Air Baltic. Lufthansa effected the transaction by purchasing convertible shares that can be transformed into ordinary shares during a potential Air Baltic IPO. The German group is guaranteed a minimum 5% stake. The deal is set to close in the second quarter, pending antitrust approval. Lufthansa is to gain a seat on Air Baltic's supervisory board.