Middle East carriers reported the strongest year-over-year traffic growth in October at 14 per cent, benefiting from strong demand for business-related premium travel, particularly to developing markets such as Africa, a report said.

Capacity kept pace rising 13.9 per cent, and load factor stayed flat compared to the year-ago period at 75.5 per cent, added the International Air Transport Association (Iata), announcing global passenger traffic results for October.

Airlines in the region benefitted from solid performance of key economies like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which also supported strong expansion in business and leisure travel, the report added.

African airlines’ traffic climbed 3.5 per cent compared to October 2012, the slowest rate of growth for any region and well below year-to-date expansion of 6.4 per cent.

Capacity rose 8.7 per cent, resulting in a 3.3 percentage point drop in load factor to 66.1 per cent, the lowest load factor for any region. Intense competition on major trunk routes and market volatility may have affected volumes in October.

Globally, international passenger demand was up 6.9 per cent in October compared to the year-ago period with airlines in all regions recording growth. Capacity rose 6.6 per cent and load factor climbed 0.2 percentage points to 78.4 per cent.

Total revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rose 6.6 per cent compared to October 2012, an improvement over the September increase of 5.2 per cent. A capacity increase of 6.5 per cent meant that load factor was virtually flat at 78.9 per cent.

“October traffic results reinforce expectations for a strong fourth quarter traffic performance in line with rising business confidence and better economic performance in the major advanced economies,” said Tony Tyler, Iata’s director general and CEO.

“In 2013, the airline industry will carry more than 3 billion passengers in a year for the first time. And on January 1, 2014, we will celebrate a century of scheduled commercial aviation. These twin landmarks provide an opportunity to reflect on the enormous contribution aviation makes to all of our lives.

“That contribution comes not from the fees and taxes with which governments continue to burden aviation and air travelers, but rather from the ability to bring people together, connect people to markets and to create opportunities for greater understanding among cultures,” Tyler concluded. – TradeArabia News Service