By Benadeta Mwaura - Reporter
Kenya, 2 November 2025 - Kenya’s low-cost carrier Jambojet led African airlines in filling seats in FY 2024-2025, recording an average load factor of 80.4% across its network, a sign that cheap, frequent short-haul flights are meeting hungry demand as domestic and regional travel rebounds.
That performance placed the carrier ahead of long-established names such as Air Mauritius and Royal Air Maroc, and underlines a boom in intra-Africa travel that industry bodies say is gathering pace.
Jambojet carried about 1.257 million passengers in 2024-2025, the vast majority of them on domestic routes, and its market share in Kenya’s domestic market sits at roughly 52%, evidence that low-cost, point-to-point services are unlocking travel for price-sensitive customers who previously relied on buses and long-distance road links. The airline operates Dash-8 Q400 turboprops (about 78 seats) and, on average, was filling roughly 62 seats per flight in 2024.
“The highest average passenger load factors in 2024 amongst the top five airlines were Jambojet at 80.4 percent, Air Mauritius at 79.8 percent, Nouvelair Tunisie at 78.4 percent, Royal Air Maroc at 77 percent and Kenya Airways at 75 percent,” the Africa Airlines Association (AFRAA) noted in its 2025 annual report, a ranking that underlines how fast low-cost models can scale where demand exists.
Industry analysts point to several drivers. First, Africa’s air-travel recovery has been broad- based: IATA data show rising passenger demand and tightening seat availability across the continent in 2024–25, which lifts load factors region-wide. Second, Kenya has been expanding airport and airstrip infrastructure and improving connectivity between secondary cities, a market where Jambojet has aggressively placed capacity. Third, a low-fare model with frequent frequencies has helped convert road travellers into airline customers.
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Jambojet’s new leadership says the airline sees untapped opportunity beyond domestic routes. Ayisi Makatiani, the airline’s recently reappointed chairman, said that the carrier plans to add aircraft and expand into West and Southern Africa over the next five years, while preserving its low-cost discipline. “Customers are already complaining about limited seats, you try to book a flight to Kisumu or Mombasa today, and chances are you won’t find a seat. That tells us there’s still room to add more planes,” he said. Mr Makatiani also flagged leasing as a preferred financing route to scale without over-leveraging the airline.
Jambojet’s high load factor helped lift revenues and made it one of the few African carriers to report positive operating profits in FY 2024-2025, according to disclosures to AFRAA. That said, its parent company Kenya Airways (KQ) still reported tax losses in 2024, mainly due to foreign-exchange hits, a reminder that parent-group finances and macro factors can complicate subsidiary growth stories. Industry watchers say Jambojet’s economics depend on careful fleet planning, complementary regional routes and maintaining healthy unit costs as it scales.
Jambojet’s outperformance sits inside a broader rebound. IATA and regional analysts report that Africa has been seeing strong year-on-year gains in passenger demand, with load factors across the continent rising toward global levels as capacity additions lag demand in many markets.
That balance, rising demand plus constrained seats, has helped many carriers push higher utilisation and better yields. Yet the continent’s aviation recovery remains uneven: some carriers and routes still face structural cost pressures, from fuel and FX to airport fees. Jambojet’s 80.4% load factor is a milestone for Kenya’s aviation sector and a marker of how low-cost carriers can reshape intra-Africa travel. For consumers it means cheaper, more frequent flights; for the industry it suggests that demand is maturing beyond capital cities. The challenge now is scaling responsibly, turning high utilisation into long-term profitability while navigating the cost and macro headwinds that still shadow African aviation.
