Air of certainty
Middle East carriers saw a 4.1% increase in demand in April, according to the International Air Transport Association, with experts seeing annual comparisons to become more favourable in the coming months.
dubai — Middle East carriers saw a 4.1 per cent increase in demand in April, according to the International Air Transport Association’s latest (IATA) data.
In addition, IATA also reported on Thursday that capacity during the period climbed 3.2 per cent, while load factor rose 0.7 percentage point to 77.2 per cent. The seasonally-adjusted upward trend in traffic has strengthened since the start of the year, aided by healthy growth on the key routes to/from Asia and Europe, as well as continuing signs of recovery on the market segment to/ from North America.
Experts believe that annual comparisons are likely to become more favorable in the coming months, owing to the disruptions caused by the proposed travel bans to the US, and the since-lifted ban on large portable electronic devices in the year-ago period.
IATA’s global passenger traffic data for April 2018 showed that revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rose by 6.2 per cent compared to April 2017, which was down from a 12-month high of 9.7 per cent in March. Comparisons with the year ago period are impacted by developments a year ago — including the comparatively late timing of Easter in 2017, which boosted April traffic.
Available seat kilometers (ASKs) increased by 5.9 per cent, and
demand for air transport continues to be above the long-term trend Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO, IATA
load factor climbed 0.2 percentage point to 82.3 per cent, which was a record for the month of April, surpassing last year’s record of 82.1 per cent.
“Demand for air transport continues to be above the long-term trend. However, increases in airline cost inputs, most notably fuel prices, means that we are unlikely to see increased stimulation from lower fares in 2018, compared to previous years,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and chief executive officer.
April international passenger demand rose 4.8 per cent compared to April 2017. All regions recorded year-over-year traffic increases, but all were behind the pace of growth reported in March. Total capacity climbed 4.9 per cent, and load factor slipped 0.1 percentage point to 81.4 per cent.
Demand for domestic travel climbed 8.5 per cent in April compared to April 2017, propelled by double-digit annual growth in India and China, Capacity increased 7.6 per cent, and load factor rose 0.7 percentage point to 84.0 per cent. All markets reported demand increases, the data showed.