Air traffic growth accelerates
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Demand for air travel accelerated in April 2014, with global traffic surging 7.5% year-on-year.
This rate of growth marked a sharp upswing compared to March, when global traffic climbed just 2.9%. And while this was partially impacted by the timing of Easter, the world’s average load factor also increased, rising 1.2 percentage points to 79.4%.
“April’s demand growth was a pleasant surprise in the face of the moderating trend of recent months but it is not clear whether the acceleration in demand is sustainable in view of global economic trends including slower growth in China,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general & CEO.
Much of April’s growth was driven by international traffic, which increased 8.5%, compared to a 5.8% rise in demand for domestic flights. Domestic load factors remain higher however, at 80.2% compared to 79.0% on international routes.
Middle Eastern carriers saw the strongest growth in April 2014, with traffic surging 18.6% year-on-year, and load factors jumping 3.8 percentage points to 80.8%. Europe also saw strong growth, at 7.9%, and achieved the highest load factors of any region, at 81.4%. Airlines in the Asia Pacific region experienced a 6.7% rise in traffic with loads rising to 75.7%, and in North America airlines saw a 4.9% increase in traffic and continued high loads of 80.8%.
In terms of domestic markets, the BRIC countries continued to see strong growth. Brazil (+11.1%), Russia (+10.3%) and China (+9.9%) all saw demand rise sharply, and India recovered from a poor March to post growth of 2.7%.
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