Airlines

IATA: Solid passenger demand growth of 4.3% in April

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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported that global passenger traffic results for April 2019 showing that demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose by 4.3 per cent compared to April 2018.

April capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased by 3.6 per cent, and load factor climbed 0.6 percentage point to 82.8 per cent, which was a record for the month of April, surpassing last year’s record of 82.2 per cent. Regionally, Africa, Europe and Latin America posted record load factors. 

IATA said comparisons between the two months are distorted owing to the timing of the Easter holiday, which occurred on 1 April in 2018 but fell much later in the month in 2019.

All regions saw RPK growth with Europe up 7.6 per cent, Africa 1.6 per cent, Asia Pacific 2.1 per cent, Latin America 5.7 per cent, the Middle East 2.6 per cent and North America 4.4 per cent.

“We experienced solid but not exceptional rising demand for air connectivity in April. This partly is owing to the timing of Easter, but also reflects the slowing global economy.

“Driven by tariffs and trade disputes, global trade is falling, and as a result, we are not seeing traffic growing at the same levels as a year ago.

“However, airlines are doing a very good job of managing aircraft utilization, leading to record load factors.” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.

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