Total air passenger traffic increased 5.9% year-over-year in July, which shows an improvement on June’s 5.2% growth, according to IATA’s latest Air Passenger Market Analysis.
July capacity was up 5% YOY and the total market passenger load factor came to 83.7%, nearly matching the record July high—83.8%—set in 2015, ATWOnline.com reported.
Global international passenger traffic grew 7.1% YOY in July, up 2.1 points from June. International passenger traffic increased in all of the world regions, most notably in the Middle East (up 13.1% YOY) and Asia-Pacific (up 9.8%). Capacity on international routes increased 7.3% YOY, resulting in an international traffic PLF of 83.5%, up 4.1 points from June.
Passenger traffic on the world’s domestic routes grew 3.8% YOY in July, down 1.9 points from June. Capacity on domestic routes in July was up 3.7% YOY, down 0.6 point from June. The combined PLF for domestic routes worldwide in July was 84%, up 0.8 point from June.
“On one hand, [passenger] growth continues to face a number of headwinds, including lingering impacts from high-profile terrorist attacks and political instability in parts of Europe … [and] the repeated nature of recent events suggest that the impact this time may be longer-lasting than we might otherwise expect,” IATA senior economist, David Oxley, said.
“On the other hand, air passenger demand is being supported by lower fares, which are a function of lower oil prices continuing to feed through, as well as wider competitive pressures in the market.”
IATA CEO Alexandre de Juniac said near record-high load factors demonstrate that people want to travel.
“[But] long-haul travel to Europe … suffered in the aftermath of a spate of terrorist attacks, and the mature domestic markets are seeing demand growth stall while Brazil and Russia contract,” he said.
Through June 2016, routes showing the highest rate of increased passenger demand YOY include domestic India (up nearly 24% YOY), Middle East-North America (up 18% YOY) and Africa-Middle East (up 16.5%).
Routes showing the biggest YOY passenger declines as of June include domestic Brazil (down 7%), domestic Russia (down 1%) and domestic Japan (down 0.5%).
Year-to-date in July 2016, total air passenger demand is up 6% YOY, with capacity up 6.2% YOY, resulting in a PLF of 79.9%, down 0.2 point from an 80.1% PLF at the same point in 2015.
