IATA figures for global international passengers show increase in April

Date added: 3 June, 2011

While the growth has been exaggerated by the comparison with 2010, when European
airspace was closed due to the ash cloud, it does reveal a solid recovery from
the recession.

Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s CEO, said: “International traffic is now 7% above
the early 2008 pre-recession levels and business confidence is high.”

International Air Travel Rebounds in April

Singapore – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced traffic
results for April which showed a rebound in international markets with 16.5% growth
compared to April 2010. While this is exaggerated by the comparison 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.

A new data collection begins this month which expands the statistical coverage
to include domestic markets.

Top line highlights include:

• International: A 16.5% 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: 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: 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—demand shocks and high jet fuel
prices,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

“Despite the enormous restructuring over the last decade, the industry is not
shock-proof. Profits are being squeezed by the succession of crises and shocks
that have marked the first four months of this year. Their impact on demand will
continue to ease as we move into the second half. But maintaining the high load
factors needed to support profitable growth will be difficult given the ongoing
challenge of matching capacity to volatile demand,” said Bisignani.

International Passenger Markets

• African carriers saw a modest 1.2% growth in international markets compared to April 2010. This
  is significantly better than the 7.1% decrease recorded in March due to more stability
  returning to North Africa. While the number of flights operated to/from Egypt
  and Tunisia is down by about a quarter compared to last year, about half of February’s
  18% loss in traffic in these two markets has been recovered. Libyan airspace remains
  closed.
• Asia-Pacific carriers saw 5.1% growth in international markets, reversing the 0.6% drop in March.
  Strength in Chinese and Indian markets helped offset the weakness in routes associated
  with Japan. Japan’s international traffic is down 20%, knocking a full 1% off
  of total international travel.
• North American carriers are seeing much stronger demand in international markets (+11.9%) than in domestic,
  for which the US carriers reported 1.2% growth.
• European carriers reported a 29.3% spike, due mostly to the comparison to April 2010 which was
  severely impacted by the volcanic ash crisis. 
• Latin American carriers saw a 25.9% increase in international demand in April, higher than the 22.7%
  recorded in March.  The region’s airlines are continuing to benefit from the strong
  demand for commodities, and the dynamic growth of trade within the region and
  along trade lanes with Asia.
• 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.
• Utilization 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 4 percentage point decline since
  mid-2010 (when profits peaked) has been recovered.

Freight (Domestic and International combined)

• Domestic air freight is about 12% of total freight shipments. Commentary for
  this section focuses on combined (international and domestic figures). Load factors
  which stood at 46.5% for April, have dropped by some 4 percentage points compared
  to last May’s peak. This is reversing the strong boost to profitability that freight
  delivered in 2010.
• Although world trade has been expanding at an annualized rate of 10%, air freight
  markets have shrunk by 6% compared to their post recession peak in May 2010.
• Freight on African carriers contracted by 5.8% due to the aftermath of the political unrest in the region.
  Asia-Pacific carriers also saw a contraction, but by a smaller 2.5%, due to disruptions in the supply
  chains for autos and electronics in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and
  tsunami.
• By contrast, European airlines are starting to benefit from improvement in international trade. The 12.9% year-on-year
  growth for international freight recorded in April is a positive sign, albeit
  skewed by the volcanic ash disruptions of the previous year.

Domestic Passenger Markets

• Domestic markets have been the weakest segment of air travel over the past 9
  months.
• Japanese domestic travel was 31% below previous year levels in the aftermath of March’s earthquake and
  tsunami. While capacity was adjusted downwards by 15.9%, the gap with the fall
  in demand pushed load factors down to 47.4% for the month.
• China’s domestic market has also seen a decline in growth to 10.8% in April. Against a 3.7% increase
  in capacity, load factors were pushed upwards to 84.1%. While this is still robust
  growth in China, the world’s second largest domestic market, tighter economic
  policies have resulted in a significant slowing from the 14.6% growth recorded
  in 2010.
• Brazil and India showed the strongest domestic growth at 23.8% and 25.6% respectively. Both are
  continuing their trend of high-speed growth.
• The United States reported sluggish growth of 1.2%. The sluggishness in the mature US domestic
  market (which represents about half of global domestic travel) travel is responsible
  for the overall slow growth in domestic travel. It is also a very price sensitive
  market that has declined with rises in jet fuel costs this year.
• Over the last five years, Indian domestic expansion has been the strongest with
  a tripling in size. China and Brazil doubled in size over the same period.

Global air transport leaders are gathering in Singapore for the IATA Annual General
Meeting and World Air Transport Summit from 5-7 June. A robust discussion on the
many issues facing the global air transport industry is expected. Topics on the
agenda include the search for sustainable profitability, security and environment.
The event is open to accredited media who have pre-registered.

View April traffic results

Read Giovanni Bisignani’s full speech

International Air Travel Rebounds in April

Apr. 2011 vs. Ap. 2010	RPK Growth	ASK Growth	PLF	FTK Growth	AFTK Growth
Africa	1.2%	8.3%	65.6	-5.9%	4.7%
Asia/Pacific	5.1%	7.9%	74.3	-2.6%	4.4%
Europe	29.3%	27.1%	78.9	13.4%	20.4%
Latin America	25.9%	17.6%	76.4	4.6%	8.3%
Middle East	12.1%	12.2%	76.0	21.4%	19.3%
North America	11.9%	14.6%	78.4	7.9%	15.3%
Industry	16.5%	16.8%	76.7	5.4%	12.3%

 Full report, including international – domestic breakdown and top market traffic (pdf)

Notes for Editors:

• IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents some 230 airlines comprising
  93% of scheduled international air traffic.
• You can follow us at http://twitter.com/iata2press for news specially catered
  for the media.
• Domestic Markets: Domestic RPKs account for about 40% of the total market. It
  is most important for North American Airlines as it is about 67% of their operations.
  In Latin America, domestic travel accounts for 47% of operations, primarily due
  to the large Brazilian market. For Asia-Pacific carriers, the large markets in
  India, China and Japan mean that domestic travel accounts for 41% of the region’s
  operations. It is less important for Europe and most of Africa where domestic
  travel represents just over 10% of operations. And it is negligible Middle Eastern
  carriers for whom domestic travel represents just 5% of operations.
• Explanation of measurement terms:
• RPK: Revenue Passenger Kilometers measures actual passenger traffic
• ASK: Available Seat Kilometers measures available passenger capacity
• PLF: Passenger Load Factor is % of ASKs used. In comparison of 2011 to 2010,
  PLF indicates point differential between the periods compared
• FTK: Freight Tonne Kilometers measures actual freight traffic
• AFTK: Available Freight Tonne Kilometers measures available total freight capacity
  
• FLF: Freight Load Factor is % of AFTKs used
• IATA statistics cover international scheduled air traffic; domestic traffic is
  not included.
• All figures are provisional and represent total reporting at time of publication
  plus estimates for missing data.   Historic figures may be revised.
• International passenger traffic market shares by region in terms of RPK are:
  Europe 40.5%, Asia-Pacific 25.9%, North America 14.8%, Middle East 11.1%, Latin
  America 4.6%, Africa 3.1%.
• International freight traffic market shares by region in terms of FTK are: Asia-Pacific
  –

Posted: Friday, June 3rd, 2011. Filed in General News.