Kenya Airways recorded a passenger growth at the end of the third quarter despite the slump in tourism and the global financial crisis.

The airline carried 12,572 more passengers, an addition to the 729,546 travellers carried during the last quarter.

The growth is attributed to additional operations and increasing capacity on some of the airline’s key markets, with Africa continuing to be the most lucrative region as it recorded a higher passenger growth of 2% during the period under review.

The increased capacity in the region, especially to southern and western Africa by 14% and 13% respectively, saw the airline carry 388,199 passengers compared to 379,247 passengers in 2007.

During the period under review, the airline increased capacity to the Middle East, Asia and Far East by 18% in a bid to capitalise on the Africa-Asia connection.

Data from the industry lobby group, International Air Transport Association, IATA, says though Kenya Airways recorded some positive growth, African carriers have continuously witnessed traffic fall.

IATA attributes the fall to the falling demand for goods from countries like China due to the financial crisis.