IATA has issued passenger and cargo figures for the first four months of this year for the world”s airlines in advance of its annual gathering which takes place in Tokyo this week. Passenger traffic growth of 8.7% shows that demand for travel is strong. Slower cargo growth of 4.7% reflects a general slowdown in global economic activity. Capacity expansion in all regions for the first quarter was below traffic growth, maintaining load factors at 73.6% for the period.
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