Cheap fares have spurred global air travel growth so far this year, latest data from IATA reveals.
The airline trade body reported a 5% fall in average fares for the first eight months of the year, Travel Weekly UK reported. This supported about three percentage points of the rise in passenger traffic in the year to date.
Newly-released figures for October, released on Thursday, show continued strong demand growth for both domestic and international traffic against the same month last year.
Total revenue passenger kilometers rose 7.5%, which was in line with the 7.4% expansion seen in September. October capacity increased by 5.7%, and load factor rose 1.4% to 80.5%.
“Growth in air travel has been stimulated by lower fares, particularly for leisure travel,” IATA said. The organization’s director general and chief executive, Tony Tyler, said: “The air travel story is generally a good one.
“There are some weak spots. For example the Brazilian air transport sector is caught in perfect storm of a deepening recession, high costs and a weak currency.
“In most parts of the world we see strong demand for travel exceeding the growth in capacity. Load factors are averaging over 80% and consumers are the big winners with fares trending downwards.”
He added: “The end of the year is a festive time around the world. But this year’s celebrations will be juxtaposed against the somber reality of recent terrorist activity in the Middle East and Europe.
“The most important response to acts and threats of terrorism is to show that we will not let the terrorists change our lives. That extends to aviation and tourism. Over 100,000 flights will bring a million people together today because of the efforts of 8.7 million people — aviation professionals.”
