Global Passenger Demand Growth Hits Five-Year Peak In January - IATA

KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (Bernama) -- The global passenger traffic for January 2017 showed that demand rose by 9.6 per cent compared to January last year. In a statement Wednesday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said this was the strongest increase in more than five years. "The positive results were driven by traffic associated with the Chinese New Year celebrations in January this year compared to February in 2016," it said. IATA said the holiday-related travel contributed up to one-half a percentage point in extra demand growth. "January capacity rose eight per cent and load factor climbed 1.2 percentage points to 80.2 per cent," it said. Its Director General/Chief Executive Officer, Alexandre de Juniac, said 2017 started off strongly, with demand at levels not seen since 2011. "This is supported by the upturn in the global economic cycle and a return to a more normal environment after the terrorism and political 'shock' events seen in early 2016," he said. According to IATA, international passenger traffic surged 9.3 per cent compared to the year-ago period, while capacity rose 7.5 per cent and load factor climbed 1.3 percentage points to 80.3 per cent. It showed that all regions recorded increases in demand led by West Asia and Asia-Pacific. IATA said Asia-Pacific carriers recorded an increase of 10.9 per cent, helped by the impact of Chinese New Year-related travel and solid growth on routes within Asia. The region's capacity rose 8.9 per cent, pushing up load factor 1.5 percentage points to 81.4 per cent, it said. It said at the same time, domestic air travel climbed 9.9 per cent, capacity rose 8.7 per cent and load factor was 80.1 per cent, up 0.9 percentage point. In a separate statement, IATA said, global air freight markets showed that demand, measured in freight tonne kilometres, rose 6.9 per cent year-on-year in January 2017. Although, the growth was lower from the 10 per cent recorded in December 2016, it was still well above the average three per cent over the past five years, it said. -- BERNAMA