25 November 2010
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced international traffic results for October 2010 showing a 10.1% year-on-year increase in passenger demand and a 14.4% year on year increase for international freight.
Improvements in demand are being met by a cautious approach to capacity expansion. Over the first 10 months of the year, passenger demand grew by 8.5%, with a capacity expansion of 4.0%. A cargo capacity expansion of 9.2% was well below the demand increase of 24%. Forward schedules indicate a continuation of this trend, with a 7.5% passenger capacity increase planned for the half-year scheduling period beginning at the end of October 2010.
International passenger demand:-
The 10.1% growth in passenger demand in October is slightly below the 10.7% recorded in September, but both months are an improvement over August.
North American airlines posted a 12.4% demand increase over October 2009. October represented the fastest growth rate for the year. With a capacity increase of 11.9%, the load factor for North American airlines was pushed to 82.5%, the highest among all regions. Compared to pre-recession levels of early 2008, the region’s airlines are carrying 2% more traffic.
European carriers showed a 9.6% increase over October 2009. This is significantly better than the 8.6% growth reported for September. European airline traffic grew by 1.5% from September to October and is now 4% higher than the pre-recession levels of early 2008.
Asia-Pacific carriers posted a 7.3% demand increase, ahead of a 5.3% increase in capacity. Volumes remain 1% below pre-crisis levels of early 2008.
African airlines recorded strong growth (13.3%) compared to October 2009. With a capacity increase of 8.9%, load factors improved to 71.8%.
Latin American airlines posted a comparatively weaker performance with a 4.9% increase in demand and a 0.7% drop in capacity. The region’s results remain skewed because of the bankruptcy of Mexicana.
Middle East carriers recorded the strongest growth for the month with an 18.0% increase in demand. This is despite the earlier Ramadan dates, which negatively skewed the numbers with a 1% fall in October traffic as compared to September. The region also had the largest capacity expansion at 13.7% compared to October 2009.
http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2010-11-25-01.aspx
