Passengers traffic drops again - IATA
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Passenger volumes fell sharply to 10.1%below 2008 levels (from the -5.6% recorded in January). The 5.9% reduction incapacity – the most aggressive since the crisis began – could not keep pacewith the fall in demand, pushing the February load factor down to 69.9% (3.2percentage points below the same month in the previous year).
Asia-Pacificcarriers saw passenger traffic decline by 12.8%, far outstripping the 7.8% capacityadjustment. While this may be somewhat exaggerated by Chinese New Year (whichtook place in January 2009 and February 2008), the sharp downward drop from the-8.4% recorded in January shows the deepening impact of the crisis on thisregion.
Middle East carriers bucked the trend of falling demand with an increase of0.4% in international passenger traffic. But an aggressive capacity increase of7.3% drove load factors down 4.7 percentage points to 68.1%.
“Gloom continues. The sharp drop inFebruary passenger traffic shows the broadening scope of the crisis,” saidGiovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
However Bisignani praised Singapore’s Changi airport andMalaysian Airports chain for their efforts to reduce landing charges, calling the”model programmes for others to follow”.
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