But fares down 20% compared with 2008
Airlines saw a rise in demand of 0.5% in October compared with the same month in2008, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said today (November 30).
Last month's increase is significantly better than September, which saw a 5.4% decline in demand.
But IATA reported that carriers in Europe and North America still saw a drop in traffic for the month of October, respectively, 3% and 2.6%.
Without an exaggerated rebound from pent-up demand, there will be no rapid catch-up, warned IATA.
Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's ceo, said: "The crisis has cost the industry two years of growth. Adjusting costs and capacity to meet that reality will be challenging."
Managing yields is also proving difficult for the airlines, as it is 20% less expensive to fly today than it was a year ago.
Passenger demand is 5% below the peak recorded in early 2008, but 6% better than the lowest point in March 2009.
Airlines saw a fall in passenger numbers of 3.3% compared to October 2008, but the airlines have maintained load factors at pre-recession levels due to "careful capacity management", said IATA.
Middle Eastern carriers performed the best out of the regions, reporting a rise in demand for air travel of 14.3%, but this is increase is lower than the 18.2% rise in September.
Latin America also saw a rise in demand, of 9%, higher than the 3.4% rise the previous month.
Asia Pacific traffic grew 0.9%, lower than the 2.1% increase in September.
African carriers, like those in Europe and North America, also bucked the trend with a 2.6% fall in traffic in October.
European carriers have seen some improvement on the 4.2% decline in September, while North American carriers put capacity cuts in place, reducing traffic in October to 2.6% below 2008 levels.
The fall in demand for African carriers was a relative improvement on the 4.2% decline in September.
www.iata.org