Passenger Traffic Demand Growth Easing - IATA

The growth in global passenger traffic demand continued in August, but IATA warned that the upward trend in seasonally-adjusted traffic is easing.

Global demand in August was 7.2 percent higher than the same month last year, with all regions returning strong increases. Asia Pacific topped the regional growth list with a 9.0 percent increase in RPK traffic, Latin America added 7.5 percent and Europe grew by 7.0 percent. North America returned a 6.0 percent increase in demand.

“Following the strong summer traffic season in the Northern hemisphere, 2017 is on course to be another year of strong traffic growth,” IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac said.

“However, some important demand drivers are easing, particularly lower fares. As we head towards the end of the year we still expect growth to continue, but potentially at a slower pace.”

Global airlines added 6.3 percent more capacity in August in available seat km terms, with Asia Pacific growing capacity by 8.6 percent, Latin America by 6.9 percent, and Europe 5.7 percent. North America upped capacity by 4.7 percent.

All regions saw an increase in load factor, with Africa’s modest capacity increase of 3.1 percent resulting in a 1.9 percentage point lift to a load factor of 75.6 percent. Europe put on 1.1 percentage points to 88.0 percent, North America 1.0 percentage point to 86.1 percent, but Asia Pacific’s more active capacity growth meant just a 0.3 percentage point load factor increase to 82.6 percent in the month.