INTERNATIONAL. Global passenger traffic grew +4.8% year-on-year in February. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it was the “second month of strong demand growth to begin 2017”.
Adjusting for the leap year in 2016, IATA said the underlying growth rate was estimated at +8.6%, just under January’s increase of +8.9%.
Demand is measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs).
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“The strong demand momentum from January has continued, supported by lower fares and a healthier economic backdrop,” said IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac.
“Although we remain concerned over the impact of any travel restrictions or closing of borders, we have not seen the attempted US ban on travel from six countries translate into an identifiable traffic trend. Overall travel demand continues to grow at a robust rate.”
IATA estimates that allowing for inflation, the price of air travel has fallen by more than -10% in real terms over the past year, accounting for more than half the growth in RPKs in early 2017.
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International passenger demand rose +5.8% in February, and slightly above January’s +9.1% increase when adjusted for the leap year, IATA said.
European carriers saw February demand increase +6.5%. “Traffic has resumed its growth after the terrorist disruptions in 2016, supported in part by momentum in the regional economy,” IATA noted.
In Asia Pacific, traffic rose +5.2%, maintaining the strong momentum of the past few months. “Intra-Asia traffic remains robust and conditions on the Asia-Europe route have continued to recover from last year’s terrorism-related slowdown,” IATA reported.
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The strongest February growth rate was recorded by Middle East carriers, at +9.5%.
By contrast, North American airlines’ traffic climbed just +0.3%, which was the slowest among the regions. Adjusting for the leap year however, growth was estimated at +3.4%. “Traffic to/from Asia continues to move upward but transatlantic demand has trended sideways since mid-2016,” IATA said.
Latin American carriers recorded an increase of +5.9%. IATA commented: “Robust international demand within South America is offsetting weaker traffic to North America, which has trended downward since mid-2015 and fell by -3.4% in January, the most recent month for which route-specific results are available.”
In Africa, the recovery in passenger traffic continued, with a +7.1% increase. “This mainly reflects the upturn on the key route to/from Europe, offsetting struggles in the region’s biggest economies of Nigeria and South Africa,” IATA said.
