Worst over but no sign of a recovery
The fall in international air passenger demand is slowing up, according to new figures released today (May 27) by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
But airlines' association said there was no sign of any recovery in demand.
IATA said passenger figures for April showed a 3.1% decline compared with the same month a year ago. Cargo was down 21.7%.
Year on year, it said passenger demand had fallen by 7.5%.
The April decline compares favourably with that of March when passenger demand dropped 11.1%.
But IATA warned that Easter fell during the month which "positiv8iely skews the figures by at least 2%."
Region by region, Asia-Pacific fared the worst with an 8.6% fall in April and a year on year fall of 11.2%.
Europe had a 2.7% drop in April and a 7.4% year on year decline. In North America, the figures were, respectively 4.2% and 9%.
IATA said an increased in fare discounting had seen a rise in demand on transatlantic routes after North American airlines had a 13.4% drop in demand in March.
During the month, capacity had been cut by 4%.
European carriers had an 11.6% drop in demand in March which had improved to 2.7% in April. This closely matched the 2.6% cut in capacity for the month.
Two regions, Latin America and the Middle East, showed a rise in demand in April, respectively 7.5% and 11.2%. But only the Middle East enjoyed a tear on year rise of 4.9%.
Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's director general and ceo, said: "We are not out of the woods yet.
"The demand improvements that we saw in April are welcome. But the 3.1% decline in passenger demand still outstripped the 2.5% cutback in capacity.
"There is no improvement in revenues as yields continue to fall. And freight remains at shockingly low levels. The worst may be over. However, we have not yet seen any signs that recovery is imminent."
www.iata.org