Global premium airline traffic increased in June
economic recovery kept first and business class seats filled, the airline industry
body IATA has said. It has produced its Premium Traffic Monitor for June.
measures in some countries dampened demand for leisure travel.
and Middle Eastern markets strong, while transatlantic routes were sluggish.
[According to IATA, the unexpected result in Jun-2010 was for travel within Europe,
where the number of passengers travelling on premium class grew by 24.2%. ]
American Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Lufthansa.
against earlier forecasts of a $2.8bn loss.
economic activity returned to pre-crisis levels. Growth was slower in June than
it had been in May.
Icelandic ash cloud, slowed to 9%.
inventory cycle boosts disappear,” an IATA spokesperson said.
in demand for premium traffic
On Europe, it states:
According to IATA, the unexpected result in Jun-2010 was for travel within Europe,
where the number of passengers travelling on premium class grew by 24.2%.
years as business travellers increasingly move to economy seats in this region.
The growth is to a large part a one-off rebound from the exceptional lows at this
time last year. It may also represent some business traffic connecting through
the region to destinations in more economically buoyant parts of the world". However,
Europe’s external trade is strong and European companies have generated strong
profits during 1H2010, with IATA stating that "this may have stimulated business
and premium travel for this region". However, IATA cautioned: "We would not expect
these growth rates to persist.”
the first quarter of 2010 show that despite a recent impressive increase in premium
traffic, both volumes and yields remain below levels achieved prior to the global
economic downturn.
travel volumes increased 7.8% year-over-year, and 10.8% in March.
15% below their pre-recession levels,” says IATA.
the first quarter, growing 7.4% year-over-year, and improving 8.8% in the month
of March.
economy travel, says IATA. The association highlights a trend of recovering business
confidence and improving world trade as the drivers in the growth of business
travel.
as business confidence”.
East, as IATA statistics show a 24% increase in premium travellers in the region
during the first quarter.
quarter.
for the first three months of 2009, mirroring comments made by executives of US
network carriers during first quarter earnings discussions that premium traffic
in those markets is improving. However, economy travel in those markets grew 2.4%
in the quarter.
grew more than 20% during the first quarter, and economy travel increased 10%.
“have not yet recovered the ground lost during the recession to the same extent
as travel demand”.