São Paulo – Air passenger demand climbed 2.9% in the Middle East year-on-year in April, in the wake of a 3% drop in March. The numbers are from the International Air Travel Association (IATA), which said a downtrend remains in place despite the growth seen last month, with structural changes impacting the industry across the region. Capacity was down 1.6%, and occupancy rates climbed 3.5% to 80.5%.
Latin America carriers saw demand go up 5.2% year-on-year in April, up from 4.9% growth in March. Capacity was up 4% and occupancy increased 0.9% to 82.8%. The good results, IATA said, came in spite of economic and political uncertainty in some of the most important countries in the region. It also said ‘strong South-North traffic flows may be supporting demand growth.’
Around the world, international air travel demand climbed 5.1% year-on-year in April. Traffic increased in all regions, driven by European carriers. Total capacity was up 3.8%, and load factor went up 1.1% to 82.5%.
Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPK) widened by 4.3% in April, and Available Seat Kilometers (ASK) increased by 3.6%. load factor was up 0.6% to 82.8%, surpassing last year’s 82.8% result to set a new all-time high. Region-wise, Africa, Europe and Latin America saw record load factor numbers.
“Comparisons between the two months are distorted,” IATA said, owed to the timing of the Easter holiday, which occurred on 1 April in 2018 but fell much later in the month in 2019.”
IATA CEO Em Alexandre de Juniac was quoted in a press release as saying there was “solid, but not exceptional demand for air connectivity in April.” This is partly due to the Easter calendar, but it also reflects a slowdown in the world economy. “Driven by tariffs and trade disputes, global trade is falling, and as a result, we are not seeing traffic growing at the same levels as a year ago. However, airlines are doing a very good job of managing aircraft utilization, leading to record load factors.” IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said.
Domestic travel
Global domestic passenger demand was up 2.8% year-on-year in April. March had seen a 4.1% hike. The downtrend is mostly a consequence of results in China and India. Capacity was up 3.2%, while load factor was down 0.3% to 83.2%.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
