Middle East carriers posted a 4.8 per cent increase in international travel demand for July, well down on the 11.2 per cent growth recorded for June, recent data showed.

According to data released by International Air Transport Association (Iata), the drop in demand is attributable to volatility in the data a year ago, rather than any major new developments

The region has been negatively impacted by a number of policy measures over the past 18 months, including the ban on portable electronic devices and travel restrictions. July capacity climbed 6.5 per cent compared to a year ago and load factor dropped 1.3 percentage points to 80.3 per cent.

Asia Pacific carriers posted the strongest traffic growth across all regions for the first time in three months, with a 7.5 per cent traffic rise for the month, followed by African airlines (up 6.8 per cent), Middle East carriers, European carriers (up 4.4 per cent), North American airlines (up 4.1 per cent) and lastly Latin American airlines (up 3.8 per cent).

Overall, international traffic demand for July rose 5.3 per cent compared to July 2017, a deceleration compared to the 8.2 per cent growth recorded in June. Total capacity climbed 4.7 per cent, and load factor edged up half a percentage point to 85.0 per cent.

Demand for domestic travel climbed 7.8 per cent year-on-year in July, broadly in line with 8.0 per cent growth recorded in June. All markets saw annual increases, with China, India and Russia posting double-digit growth rates. Domestic capacity climbed 6.9 per cent, and load factor rose 0.8 percentage point to 85.6 per cent.

According to the Iata global passenger traffic results for July, total passenger demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometres, or RPKs) rose by 6.2 per cent compared to the same month last year. While this was down from 8.1 per cent year-over-year growth in June, it nevertheless marked a solid start to the peak passenger demand season.

Monthly capacity (available seat kilometres or ASKs) increased by 5.5 per cent and load factor rose 0.6 percentage point to a record high for July of 85.2 per cent.

“The industry posted another month of solid traffic growth. And the record load factor shows that airlines are becoming even more efficient in terms of deploying capacity to meet demand. However, rising costs - particularly fuel - will likely limit the stimulus we would expect from lower airfares. Therefore, we do expect to see a continued slowing of growth compared to 2017,” said Alexandre de Juniac, Iata’s director general and CEO. - TradeArabia News Service