Middle East carriers record strongest y-o-y international traffic growth
Mideast carriers hit record international passenger numbers
GENEVA, March 4, 2015
Middle East carriers had the strongest year-over-year traffic growth in the international passenger markets in January, recording 11.4 per cent increase.
Furthermore, the capacity of the Middle East carriers rose 13.3 per cent but the load factor dipped 1.3 percentage points to 79.7 per cent, said a recent report by International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Latin American airlines followed with a 5.6 per cent increase in traffic growth, with European carriers taking the third spot with a 5 per cent increase.
Overall in the international market, passenger traffic in January rose 5.4 per cent compared to the year-ago period, with capacity climbing 6 per cent and load factor slipping 0.5 percentage points to 78 per cent.
In the domestic passengers market, traffic climbed 5.6 per cent in Brazil while China witnessed a 2.1 per cent rise in January compared to a year ago. This in part is owing to the timing of the Lunar New Year falling in February and a contraction in volumes in January compared to December, after adjusting for seasonal factors.
Overall, domestic air travel rose 3.2 per cent in January year-on-year, which was below the full year 2014 result of 5.4 per cent, and capacity increased by 3.9 per cent with load factor being recorded at 77.3 per cent, down 0.5 percentage points.
Global passenger traffic in January rose 4.6 per cent compared to January 2014, representing a slower start to the year compared to 2014 full-year growth of 5.9 per cent.
“January traffic did not maintain the rate of growth attained in 2014; nevertheless, we are seeing healthy albeit slightly slower growth in the demand for air services. While January was a relatively positive start for the year, we cannot look ahead without seeing some significant risk factors in the macro-economic and political environment,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general and CEO. – TradeArabia News Service