Air travel demand slows amid Europe woes
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Passenger demand for air travel slowed last month both within Europe and globally, according to two sets of statistics released today.
Despite a 1.4% growth in passengers during this year’s first quarter for members of European Regions Airline Association (ERA), the figure is lower than previous results. With a 3.4% reduction in seat capacity, the European carriers posted a 4% higher load factor at 64.9%. However Mike Ambrose, director general at ERA warned that the tough start to the year is likely to continue amongst the ‘fragile economy’.
“Full recovery is clearly some distance away. Europe’s regulators and politicians need to be fully aware of the economic state of the industry when considering initiatives that could add further cost and/or operational burdens,” he added.
Other data released by IATA showed demand was up 4.5% globally for May compared to last year with a below-average load factor of 77.6%. Its figures showed that the wider European market posted a load factor of 78.5% (for May alone), with any growth halted at the end of 2011.
Tony Tyler, director general and CEO at IATA echoed the “fragile industry” and stab at taxes made by Ambrose.
“The G-20 leaders recognized the critical role of aviation which is the backbone of travel and tourism that is a vehicle for job creation, economic growth and development. Now we need governments to move from recognition to action with tax policies that don’t kill growth, regulation that enables growth and infrastructure to accommodate growth,” said Tyler.