IATA’s global passenger traffic report shows strong growth in March

TIN news:  The global passenger traffic results for March 2017 released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have shown that demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased by 6.8%, compared to the same month last year.

Setting a record for the month, capacity increased by 6.1% and load factor rose by half a percentage point to 80.4% globally.

IATA Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said: “Strong traffic demand continued throughout the first quarter, supported by a combination of lower fares and a broad-based upturn in global economic conditions.

“The price of air travel has fallen by around 10% in real terms over the past year and that has contributed to record load factors. We will have to wait another month to see the impact of the laptop ban on demand.”

The electronics ban in the cabin on certain routes to the US and the UK that was imposed late in March had little effect on passenger traffic figures.

In March, international passenger demand increased by 6.4% compared to the same month last year.

While airlines in all regions registered growth during the period, total capacity surged 6.1% and load factor increased 0.2% points to 78.8%.

In the domestic sector, demand during the period rose by 7.6% primarily due to the double-digit traffic growth in China, India and Russia, in addition to the strong single-digit surge in Japan.

Domestic capacity increased by 6.1% and load factor grew by 1.2% points to 83.2%.