INTERNATIONAL. Global airline passenger traffic climbed by a healthy +7.5% year-on-year (measured in revenue passenger kilometres) in October, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported. The increase in air travel has been attributed to lower fares, particularly for leisure travel.
“The air travel story is generally a good one. There are some weak spots. For example the Brazilian air transport sector is caught in a perfect storm of a deepening recession, high costs and a weak currency. In most parts of the world we see strong demand for travel-exceeding the growth in capacity. Load factors are averaging over 80% and consumers are the big winners with fares trending downwards,” said IATA Director General and CEO Tony Tyler.Â
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International passenger demand rose by +7.6% compared to October 2014, with airlines in all regions recording growth. Capacity climbed +6.1% and load factor increased 1.1 percentage points to 79.2%.
Asia Pacific airlines posted a traffic increase of +8.6% compared to the prior year period. Capacity climbed by +6.6% and load factor grew 1.5 percentage points to 76.7%.
European carriers saw demand rise +6.7%, supported by economic recovery in the Eurozone. Capacity climbed +4.2% and load factor jumped 1.9 percentage points to +83.8%, the highest among the regions.
North American airlines experienced a +4.6% jump in traffic, continuing the healthy trend of recent months. Capacity climbed just +2.2%, propelling a 1.9 percentage point rise in load factor to 82.1%.
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Middle East carriers posted a +10.3% traffic increase in October. Capacity rose +12.7%, which caused load factor to slide 1.5 percentage points to 72.5%. The Middle East was the only region to see a decline in load factor for the month.
Latin American airlines had a +10% rise compared to October 2014. Capacity increased by nearly the same amount and load factor edged up 0.1 percentage points to 80.5%. Solid trade activity has provided a boost to business-related international travel, despite economic weakness in Brazil and Argentina, said IATA.
African airlines traffic climbed +6.7%, marking a fourth consecutive month of improvement compared to the same period last year. However, fundamental economic drivers remain weak, so the result could also reflect volatility in reported volumes. Capacity rose 5.2%, with the result that load factor improved 1.0 percentage point to 67.4%.
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Domestic travel climbed +7.3% in October compared to October 2014, with double-digit growth occurring in China, India and Russia. Brazil and Australia both posted declines.
Domestic capacity was up +5.0%, and load factor was 82.7%, up 1.8 percentage points.
Tyler said: “The end of the year is a festive time around the world. But this year’s celebrations will be juxtaposed against the somber reality of recent terrorist activity in the Middle East and Europe. This, by all indications, also includes the downing of Metrojet 9268 with the loss of all aboard.”
