Air traffic rebounded in May after the negative impact of the volcanic ash clouds in Europe, the International Air Traffic Association (IATA) said.
The Association said there was an 11.7% rise in May compared with the same month in 2008.
It said traffic increased by 9% in May after a 5.5% decline in April caused largely by the shutdown of air space in Europe for parts of the month.
But IATA said that European airlines bore 70% of the damage caused to the industry by the shutdown.
Their traffic had still not returned to pre-ash levels and was still 4.5% lower than the global average.
IATA said that during the first five months of this year, the Middle East had enjoyed a 20% rise in passengers while Asia-Pacific had seen a 12% rise and Latin America 10%.
It added: "The more sluggish economic growth in Western economies, particularly Europe, was reflected in travel markets with European airlines seeing growth of only 2.3% and North American airlines 4.8% so far this year.
"Airlines in these last two regions have also continued to cut capacity, whereas there is capacity expansion elsewhere."
IATA said expansion appeared to be continuing in the merging markets while Japan and the US had been growing "at a reasonable pace in recent quarters."
But it added: "European markets are unlikely to grow strongly after May's post airspace closure bounce.
"Economic growth in the region is weak, financial stability is being questioned again, and fiscal policy is being tightened sharply in many economies."
www.iata.org