Air passenger traffic rose by 5.9% in July compared with the same month last year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said today (September 1).
The airlines’ cartel said that during the month, international traffic rose by 7.3% while domestic numbers increased by 3.5%.
Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general and ceo, said the increase was “likely based on the much more optimistic economic outlook that marked the beginning of the year.”
But he warned: “With business and consumer confidence now tanking, sluggishness in international trade, and high fuel prices, the expectation is for a weaker end to the year.
“We are already seeing this in the shrinking air freight markets, which were 0.4% down on the previous year,”
IATA said that compared with pre-recession e levels in 2008, international passenger traffic had increased by 12%.
Load factors had also increased in July by 0.5% to 83.1% compared to July last year with North American carriers (86.9%) and European carriers (84.1%) in the lead.
European carriers saw a 9.3% leap in demand along with an 8.9% increase in capacity.
But IATA said despite the continent’s debt crisis, airlines were benefitting from increased inward demand aided by the weak currencies.
The strongest increase in demand was in Latin America (10.3%), followed by the Middle East (9.7%).
There was a 6.6% increase in Africa, and a 5.8% rise in Asia Pacific while North American airlines saw traffic rise by just 3.9%, below the 4.4% increase in capacity.
IATA said the “disappointing” economic outlook continued to dampen demand in the region.