Air travel increases

GENEVA  Global passenger traffic showed a slight improvement in August, according to the International Air Transport Association’s latest results.
Total revenue passenger km (RPKs) increased 5.9% compared to August 2013, which was above the 5.4% year-over-year increase recorded in July.
August capacity climbed 5.5%. The load factor stood at 83.9%, which is a 0.3 percentage point rise over August 2013.
inside no 5“August was a good month right across the industry. All regions reported an expansion in demand for air travel. And load factors were high, reflecting the fact that August is peak travel season in the northern hemisphere.
The 6.1% year-to-date expansion in demand reflects a solid step up from the 3.8% growth recorded in 2013. But it remains a question how long the robust trend in passenger travel can continue in light of the continent’s increasingly worrying economic outlook,” said IATA director general and CEO, Tony Tyler.
International Passenger Markets
International passenger traffic rose 6.7% in August, with all regions showing growth over the previous year. Capacity also rose 6.7% and load factor was stable at 84.2%.
European carriers’ international traffic climbed 6.8% in August compared to the year-ago period. Carriers based in the region are experiencing strong demand despite the economic difficulties in the Eurozone. Sanctions related to the Russia-Ukraine crisis are among the factors having a dampening effect on key European economies including Germany. Capacity was up 6.0% pushing load factor to 86.9%, which is 0.6 percentage points above previous-August levels.
Asia Pacific airlines saw traffic rise 5.8% in August compared to the previous year. After a slow start, the Chinese economy has been stabilising, supported by government fiscal stimulus, and regional trade activity which encourages business travel, has rebounded fully. Capacity rose 7.0% and load factor declined 0.9 percentage points to 81.0%.
inside no 5.1North American airlines’ demand rose 3.2% in August compared to a year ago. According to JP Morgan/Markit, overall business conditions in the US are the strongest they have been since May 2010. With capacity up 5.0%, load factor fell 1.5 percentage points to 86.6%.
Middle East carriers had the strongest year-on-year traffic growth in August at 11.7% as airlines continue to benefit from the strength of regional economies and solid growth in business-related premium travel. Capacity rose 10.3% and load factor rose 1.0 percentage points to 83.0%.
Latin American airlines experienced an 8.2% rise in traffic, second highest among the regions. Capacity rose 6.4% and load factor rose 1.4 percentage points to 82.2%. While economies such as Colombia, Peru and Chile continue to expand robustly, growth in the Brazilian economy remains fundamentally weak and regional trade volumes have made no progress this year compared to the highs reached at the end of 2013.
African airlines’ demand rose 7.5%, while capacity climbed 5.9% and the load factor improved 1.1 percentage points to 75.0%. Because significant volatility in volumes for this region can occur, the strong traffic growth cannot be immediately interpreted as a trend change.

sourced:ttrweekly.com