INTERNATIONAL. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) yesterday released full-year traffic results for 2005 showing that international passenger traffic (measured in RPKs*) grew by +7.6% year-on-year.
“The industry is returning to a more normal growth pattern after the shocks that began in 2001. Passenger traffic is lower than the +15.3% increase recorded in 2004, but above the historical growth of +6%,” said IATA Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani.
Regionally, only Latin America (+11.4%) and the Middle East (+13.1%) reported double-digit passenger traffic growth in 2005. Load factors also improved by +0.9% to 75.1% year over year, IATA said, reflecting the industry’s restrained response to the more modest growth rate seen in 2005. Africa grew by +9.9%, Asia Pacific rose +6.3%, Europe by +6.4% and North America by +8.9% – all measured in RPKs.
December international passenger traffic worldwide grew by +6.1%.
Despite its full-year growth, the industry lost US$6 billion in 2005. US airlines lost US$10 billion, European carriers made US$1.3 billion and Asian carriers earned US$1.5 billion.
“Growth and profitability are completely different concepts. Freight and passenger traffic are forecast to grow in the +5% to +6% range during 2006 but the industry is projected to record another loss of over US$4 billion for 2006,” said Bisignani. “The industry will not see black ink until at least 2007.
“Cost reduction remains critical. All industry partners and stakeholders will have to sustain their focus on fuel efficiency and attack costs. While we have made some good progress, the road ahead is long. Far too many airport monopolies do not understand the need for efficiency and too many governments are shirking their responsibility to regulate where commercial discipline is absent,” said Bisignani.
*Note: RPK denotes Revenue Passenger Kilometres, a common airline measurement of actual passenger traffic.
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