"Some stabilisation" in demand
The drop in premium air passengers eased slightly in June to 21.3%, compared with a 23.6% fall in May.
New figures released today (August 18) by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that the drop in economy passengers also eased from 7.6% in May to 5.5% in June.
The fall in total passenger numbers on international markets slowed from 9.2% in May to 7.1% in June.
IATA said the figures in its monthly Premium Traffic Monitor indicated "some stabilisation in air travel demand."
The airlines' Association said: "The number of passengers travelling on economy tickets has shown signs of reaching a floor since March, but until June that seemed largely due to business travellers switching from premium to economy seats rather than any underlying stabilisation of demand."
But IATA stressed that the improvement was not across all markets.
It said some Asian markets saw a "further deterioration" in June, possibly due to concerns over swine flu (H1H1).
IATA said there was "some evidence that more stable Q2 economic conditions in the US and Europe began to influence travel, with total passenger numbers across the North Atlantic falling by ‘only' 3.5% in June compared with a 6.3% decline in May."
But the Association said that while economy traffic on transatlantic routes was down 1.7% in June compared with May, premium traffic slumped by 13.9% in the month, again compared with May.
It reported that premium traffic on routes between Europe and the Far East fell by 23.7% in June while on North and Mid Pacific routes, it dropped by 27.9%.
IATA said the stabilisation in passenger numbers was being "partly" achieved by lower fares.
It said revenue from premium traffic fell by 33% in Q1 and 41% in Q2, compared with the same quarters in 2008.
IATA said it was still declining "at a rate close to 40% in June."
While air passenger numbers in Europe were falling at a much slower rate in the last three months, IATA said this was "not evident" in premium travel.
Within Europe premium travel fell by 31.1% in June, compared with 30.6% in May and 24.2% in Q1.
However economy fell by 3% in June compared to 7% in May.
IATA added: "The deterioration in premium travel is despite the better economic news declared by Germany and France.
"There are lags in any cyclical recovery but on this short/medium-haul market this does suggest some further structural decline in premium travel.
"Passengers who had previously paid premium fares to travel on these markets and have now moved to the back of the aircraft, or onto low fare airlines, may not return."
www.iata.org