Middle East airlines had the strongest year-over-year demand growth in January at 10.9 per cent, helped by ongoing network and fleet expansion, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) has announced.

Capacity rose 12.9 per cent and load factor dipped 1.4 percentage points to 77.8 per cent in the month compared to the same period last year, it said.

Global passenger traffic results for January 2016 showed demand (revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) rose 7.1 per cent compared to January 2015. This was ahead of the 2015 full year growth rate of 6.5 per cent.

January capacity rose 5.6 per cent, with the result that load factor rose 1.1 percentage points to 78.8 per cent, the highest load factor ever recorded for the first month of the year.

“January maintained the strong traffic growth trend seen in 2015, showing the resilience of demand for connectivity despite recent turmoil in equity markets. The record load factor is a result of strong demand for our product and airlines making the most productive use of their assets. Underlying conditions point to another strong year for passenger traffic, with the latest decline in oil prices likely providing additional stimulus for air travel growth,” said Tony Tyler, Iata’s director general and CEO.

January international passenger traffic rose 7.3 per cent compared to the year-ago period. Capacity rose 5.9 per cent and load factor rose 1.0 percentage point to 78.8 per cent. All regions recorded year-over-year increases in demand.

Domestic air travel rose 6.8 per cent in January year-on-year. Capacity rose 5.1 per cent and load factor was 78.9 per cent, up 1.3 per cent.

India’s domestic air travel soared 22.9 per cent in January compared to a year ago. Growth is being propelled by the comparatively strong domestic economy and increases in air services. The Indian market overtook both Australia and Japan during 2015 and is currently level with Russia at around 1.2 per cent of global RPKs. – TradeArabia News Service