The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that global passenger traffic data for June showed that demand for flights rose by 7.8% compared with the same period last year. This was in line with the 7.7% growth recorded in May, with all regions reporting growth for the period.
For the first six months of 2017, the industry experienced a 12-year high in traffic growth (7.9%) and a record first half load factor of 80.7%.
Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO, said, “A brighter economic picture and lower airfares are keeping demand for travel strong. But as costs rise, this stimulus of lower fares is likely to fade. And uncertainties such as Brexit need to be watched carefully. Nonetheless, we still expect 2017 to see above-trend growth.”
Asia-Pacific airlines’ June traffic jumped 9.1% compared to the same period last year. The overall upward trend in seasonally adjusted traffic remains strong, although volumes have slipped in recent months. Traffic on Asia-Europe routes continues to trend upward following terrorism related disruptions in early 2016. However, solid demand growth on international routes within Asia has paused.
European carriers saw traffic rise 8.8% in June compared with June 2016, which was up from a 7.5% year-on-year same period increase recorded in May. Capacity climbed 6.5% and load factor rose by 1.8% to 85.9%, the highest among the regions.
Demand for domestic travel climbed 8.2% in June compared to June 2016, up slightly from the 7.9% growth seen in May. June capacity increased 7.0%, and load factor rose 0.9% to 84.3%. Led by China and India, all markets reported demand increases, but with wide variation.
These increases signify air travel’s fastest first-half growth in 12 years. With this consideration, the peak summer travel season is also expected to be record breaking.
