The International Air Transport Association (IATA) today announced global traffic results for April, showing that despite continuing economic weakness in some parts of the world, demand for air travel continues to grow. The 6.1 per cent overall growth recorded for April is above the 20-year trend. Strong demand for air travel with limited capacity expansion has pushed load factors to 79.3 per cent which is a record high. Passenger demand for domestic flights in India has risen by 8.6 per cent, ahead of the 1.7 per cent expansion, with load factors at 75.3%.
“It’s a volatile and risky world. Airlines are being cautious managing through the uncertainty. Overall passenger demand was up 6.1 per cent in April and capacity increases were held back to 3.8 per cent. The growth in passenger markets is encouraging. But it comes against an environment of continuing high oil prices and growing economic uncertainty. So translating the stronger demand into profits will be difficult,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general and CEO.
