Asian air traffic accelerates in May
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Demand for air travel in the Asia Pacific region continued to gather pace in May.
According to the latest data from IATA, the region’s carriers experienced a 7.3% rise in passenger traffic during the month. This marked an acceleration from the 6.7% increase seen in April and a sharp rise compared to March’s growth rate of 1.1%. The region’s average load factors remained almost unchanged at 74.1%.
IATA noted that “the strong performance suggests that downward pressure on demand from sluggishness in the Chinese economy is likely easing”.
This is also evident from the strong growth experienced in China’s domestic market. Demand for flights within China increased 9.4% in May, although load factors dipped slightly to 79.3%.
Other key Asia Pacific markets also saw traffic growth in May. India’s domestic traffic climbed 4.1% year-on-year, while Japan rose 3.7%. But India’s average load factor of 80.5% was significantly stronger than Japan’s 62.9%. In Australia, domestic air traffic increased 5.2% with load factors of 74.8%.
Global demand for air transport has now increased 6.2% in the first five months of the year, with international growth (+6.5%) outpacing domestic (+5.6%). The global average cabin load factor for this period was 78.8%.
“We are seeing healthy demand for air traffic to support and help sustain the pick-up in global economic activity,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general & CEO.
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