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EUROPE. International passenger traffic on European airlines has increased by +7.8% year-on-year for the ten months to October, according to the Association of European Airlines.
Some 177.2 million passengers flew on European airlines to international destinations over the period, with long-haul services growing faster than flights within Europe.
Long-haul traffic rose +10.5%, although the increase was partly due to last year’s numbers being depressed by SARS. This is borne out by the strong growth in traffic between Europe and Asia/Australasia – up by +21.6%.
A significant +9.4% more passengers flew on North Atlantic routes, and +11.9% more on South Atlantic routes.
For the month of October international traffic grew by +4.0%, once again led by long-haul flights.
The association noted that there was “continued weakness in domestic markets and figures for cross-border Europe”. Intra-Europe traffic grew by only +2.9%. “Without being by any means conclusive, this could indicate weaker demand for business travel in Europe compared to the leisure market,” noted the association.
“With ten months of data now in, it is very likely that the annual growth figure for 2004 will just exceed +9%. Following the +1.5% increase in 2003, this equates to an annual rate of slightly over +5%, sustained for two years from the bottom of the market cycle in 2002,” the association added.
MORE STORIES ON EUROPEAN AIR TRAFFIC
European air traffic shows strong growth in September and October – 19/11/04
Expanding Asia Pacific routes boost European air traffic in June – 27/08/2004
Europe air traffic figures back to 2001 levels – 30/07/04
AEA weekly traffic growth rates fall as 2003 SARS effect recedes – 12/06/04
