Demand Moderates In March

IATA reports that global passenger traffic results for March indicate that demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometers, or RPKs) rose 5.3%, compared to the same month last year.

Capacity grew slightly faster at 5.9% which pushed the average load factor down by half a percentage point to 79.6%.

The airline industry association said that March performance showed a moderate slowdown on the year-on-year growth rates recorded in January (7.2%) and February (8.6%) even after adjusting for the leap-year impact in February. Demand for international traffic grew significantly more quickly (6.2%) than that for domestic travel (3.7%).

Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general and CEO, said: “While in line with long-term trends, demand growth in March represented a slow-down compared to January and February. It is premature to say whether this marks the end of the recent very strong results. We do expect further stimulus in the form of network expansion and declines in travel costs. However, the wider economic backdrop remains subdued.”

Go to http://www.iata.org for more.