Asian air traffic continues to drive global growth
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Air passenger volumes in Asia Pacific and Middle East continued to soar in November 2015.
According to the latest data from IATA, Asia Pacific’s airlines registered a 7.9% increase in international traffic (measured in revenue passenger kilometres) during the month, with average load factors rising to 76.2%.
Middle Eastern carriers experienced a 9.8% jump in traffic, but suffered a decline in load factors, which fell to 69.4% due to a sharp 11.5% rise in available seat capacity.
Globally, the world’s airlines achieved a 5.6% increase in international traffic in November.
“Consumers continue to benefit from lower fares, which are spurring demand,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general & CEO. “The economy benefits from the stimulus to consumer spending. And airlines are starting to achieve minimum acceptable profit levels. It’s good news all around, but as we open 2016, economic risks are mounting.”
The Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern markets outpaced the growth experienced in Europe (+2.2%) and North America (+2.1%) in November, although both these regions did achieved higher load factors. Latin American traffic rose 10.7%, while African airlines experienced an impressive 12.2% jump.
And Asia’s emerging markets also saw strong growth in terms of domestic air traffic, with China rising 8.4% and India surging 25.1%, continuing the market’s recent strong performance. India’s strong results also reflected the timing of the Diwali holiday, which occurred in October in 2014.
The US, the world’s largest domestic air market, saw a strong 9.1% jump in traffic, but two of the world’s biggest emerging markets – Russia (-7.1%) and Brazil (-7.9%) – experienced sharp declines.
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