FREIGHT AND PAX DEMAND REMAIN STRONG -IATA

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Monday, 24 July 2006

International traffic data for January to April 2006 shows a 6.9 per cent growth in passenger demand and 5.7 per cent growth for freight over the same period in 2005. Freight demand for the first four months of the year averaged 5.7 per cent.  Middle Eastern carriers led growth at 17.9 per cent, followed by Latin America (8.0 per cent), Asia-Pacific (6.0 per cent) and North America (5.9 per cent). African and European carriers lagged behind at 2.7 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively. “Strong demand is good news for an industry that continues to take a beating from oil prices averaging US$20 per barrel more than in 2005. Airlines continue to cut costs and improve efficiency, but it will still not be enough to fully mitigate the price of fuel. Even more efficiency and great change are needed,” said Bisignani.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) figures also show load factors for the first four months of the year achieved an average of 74.8 per cent.

“Strong economies are supporting strong demand growth for both freight and passenger traffic. Even with the high price of oil and rising interest rates there is no apparent drop in demand and carriers are responding with careful capacity management that saw the April load factors reach their highest point—76.5 per cent—in the past decade,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and chief executive officer.

Passenger traffic grew by 9.9 per cent over the previous April, while capacity expanded by only 5.5 per cent, driving load factors to 76.5 per cent. For the first four months of the year, the Middle East continued to lead growth with an 18.3 per cent increase over the same period in 2005.