Air travel is set to rise by nearly one-third by 2017 with China being the major driver of passenger growth, according to a forecast by IATA.
The association is predicting that total airline passenger numbers will rise to 3.91 billion in 2017 – up by 930 million passengers on the 2.98 billion carried by airlines in 2012. This would mean an average annual rise of 5.4 per cent.
Routes within and connected to China will account for around 24 per cent of these extra passengers – around 85 per cent will be on domestic routes and the other 15 per cent will be international passengers.
The regions expected to see the slowest growth in air travel are North America with a compound annual growth rate of 3.6 per cent and Europe with growth of 3.9 per cent per year. While the Middle East is forecast to see annual rises of around 6.3 per cent.
IATA director general and CEO Tony Tyler said: “The fact that the Asia-Pacific region -- led by China --and the Middle East will deliver the strongest growth over the forecast period is not surprising.
Governments in both areas recognise the value of the connectivity provided by aviation to drive global trade and development. Similar opportunities exist for developing regions in Africa and Latin America.
“To reap the benefit, governments in those regions will need to change their view of aviation from a luxury cash cow to a utilitarian powerful draft horse to pull the economy forward.”