IATA reports that passenger traffic continued to show “strong growth” in August, with load factors increasing by 0.9% to 84.7%, while total revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rose 7.1% compared to the year-ago period and August capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased by 5.9%.

Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general and CEO, commented, “August results continue the trend of strong demand for air travel, despite some softening in global economic growth, particularly in emerging markets.”

Tyler continued, “Airlines are committed to meeting growing demand sustainably. The record high load factor of 84.7% is a great indicator of improved efficiency – a 17 percentage point increase over the industry’s performance a decade ago. This is just one indicator of the aviation industry’s determination to achieve carbon neutral growth from 2020.”

Recently, IATA was one of the signatories at the Global Sustainable Aviation Summit of an open letter from the industry to governments. The industry called on governments to agree on the implementation of a simple, global offsetting scheme which will stabilize air transport carbon emissions, and to endorse a global CO2 standard for new aircraft.