February traffic struck by ME protests
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) today announced scheduled international traffic for February 2011 showing increases of 6.0% in passenger demand compared to February 2010. However, February demand growth was down significantly compared to January 2011 due to political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa which is estimated to have cut international traffic by about 1%. As such it is responsible almost entirely for the slippage in global passenger demand growth.With demand taking an unexpected dip, load factors also fell to a monthly average of 73% which means, on a seasonally adjusted basis, they have lost 2.2 percentage points on peak levels as capacity additions have consistently exceeded demand growth.Asia-Pacific airlines were hit particularly hard, reporting a major slowdown to 3% growth, half of the 6.3% recorded for January. A capacity increase of 6.6% pushed the load factor down to 75.4% and Chinese New Year fell at the beginning of February, pushing some of the holiday traffic into late January.”Another series of shocks is denting the industry’s recovery from the recession. As the unrest in Egypt and Tunisia spreads across the Middle East and North Africa, demand growth across the region is taking a step back. The tragic earthquake and its aftermath in Japan will most certainly see a further dampening of demand from March,” commented Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
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