Middle East airlines expand despite regional issues
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released its air traffic results for April which showed Middle East carriers reported a 12.1% increase in international markets, more than double the 5.3% recorded for March, indicating a return of confidence to the region’s long-haul operations. While political unrest in Bahrain, Yemen and Syria continued through the month, the impact was small as the three markets combined account for only 6% of Middle East traffic.Utilisation of seats improved significantly in April after large falls in February and March due to various demand shocks. While a downward trend is still visible, a load factor of 76.7% means that half of the four percentage point decline since mid-2010 (when profits peaked) has been recovered.Internationally, a significant rebound of 16.5% growth was recorded compared to April 2010. While the result was favourable compared to April 2010 during which European airspace was closed due to the volcanic ash crisis, international travel markets in April had grown to reach a level 7% higher than the pre-recession peak of early 2008.The increase in passenger demand was met by a 16.8% increase in capacity. Passenger load factors fell slightly from 76.8% in April 2010 to 76.7% in April this year. International freight grew by 5.4% against a capacity increase of 12.3%, pushing the freight load factor down from 55.3% in April 2010 to 51.9% in April 2011.Domestic markets showed 4.7% growth over the previous year, outpacing a capacity increase of 3.1%, pushing the passenger load factor to 78.8%. Domestic freight markets showed a 9.3% fall in freight traffic against a capacity decrease of 1.0% resulting in an average load factor for the month of 26.8%.System-wide, passenger traffic grew by 11.9%, slightly ahead of an 11.5% capacity expansion pushing the system-wide load factor to 77.4%. Freight markets grew by 3.3%, against a capacity increase of 9.2%, dropping the system-wide freight load factor to 46.5% (compared to 49.1% for the same month last year). “Demand improved significantly in April. Eliminating all distortions, we are growing at 3-4%. International traffic is now 7% above the early 2008 pre-recession levels, load factors are hovering around 77% and business confidence is high. Unfortunately two things are spoiling the party
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