June Passenger Traffic Shows Strong Growth - IATA

August 3, 2017

Global passenger traffic demand rose 7.8 percent in June, with all regions reporting growth, IATA said in its monthly update.

Regionally, Asia Pacific saw the highest growth with an 11.6 percent boost in RPK (revenue passenger km) traffic. Africa was second in growth terms, on 9.2 percent, and Europe third with 8.8 percent. North America reported growth of 4.0 percent.

June capacity rose by 6.5 percent overall, with Asia Pacific again topping the table on 9.4 percent. Europe was second with a 6.7 percent increase in ASK (available seat km), Africa was a close third with 6.6 percent growth. North America increased ASK capacity by 4.1 percent.

Passenger load factor rose in all regions bar the Middle East, which dropped 0.8 percentage points to 68.8 percent, and South America which was unchanged at 86.3 percent. Overall, load factor increased by 1 percentage point to 81.9 percent.

“A brighter economic picture and lower airfares are keeping demand for travel strong,” IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac said. “But as costs rise, this stimulus of lower fares is likely to fade.”

He said uncertainties “such as Brexit need to be watched carefully. Nonetheless, we still expect 2017 to see above-trend growth.”

(Airwise)