Middle East carriers experienced a 6.9 per cent rise in demand in October, an improvement from 3.9 per cent recorded in September, figures showed.

According to a report released by The International Air Transport Association (Iata), capacity increased 5.3 per cent, and load factor climbed 1.0 percentage point to 69.6 per cent. As in Europe, the upward trend in RPKs has slowed.

Demand to and from North America fell in year-on-year terms for the seventh consecutive month in September (the most recent month for which route-specific figures are available) and it remains the only international market not to have grown in annual terms this year. Traffic has been heavily affected by the now-lifted ban on portable electronic devices, as well as from the proposed travel bans to the US.

Asia-Pacific airlines led all regions with traffic growth of 10.3 per cent compared to the year-ago period, which was up from an 8.7 per cent rise in September. Capacity climbed 8.4 per cent and load factor rose 1.3 percentage points to 78.0 per cent. Seasonally-adjusted passenger volumes are rising at an annualised rate of 8-9 per cent, supported by the solid regional economic backdrop and strong growth in the number of connections.

The slowest growth among all regions was posted by North American airlines, whose traffic climbed 3.7 per cent in October compared to the year-ago period - an improvement compared to the hurricane-impacted 3 per cent growth in September.

October international passenger demand rose 7.3 per cent compared to October 2016, which was an improvement compared to the 6.6 per cent demand increase for September. Total capacity climbed 6.0 per cent, and load factor increased 1.0 percentage point to 79.4 per cent.

Domestic demand climbed 7.2 per cent in October compared to October 2016, while capacity rose 6.6 per cent. India and China continued to lead all markets, with double-digit growth rates of 20.4 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

Global passenger demand rose 7.2 per cent compared to the same month last year. Capacity grew 6.2 per cent and load factor climbed 0.8 percentage points to 80.8%, which was a record for the month.

October’s performance was a strong bounce-back after the hurricane-related disruptions in September. Domestic and international travel growth largely was in balance.

"As expected, the recent severe weather in the Americas region had only a temporary impact on the healthy travel demand we have seen this year, and we remain on course for another year of above-trend growth," said Alexandre de Juniac, Iata's director general and CEO. - TradeArabia News Service