Middle East carriers had the strongest growth rate in January, with an increase in demand of 14.3%, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported.
The growth outpaced the global average and a quarter of the increase in international travel in January compared to October was carried by the Middle East airlines. Growth in capacity for the month was 14.4% and load factors stood at 78.6%.
The region’s carriers have benefited from network expansions into emerging markets.
Globally, demand was up 2.7% on the previous January, which is slightly ahead of the 2.2% expansion in capacity. Load factors stood at 77.1%.
“Passenger travel is growing in line with business confidence levels. Recent months have seen some positive economic signs emerge in both the US and China, and the Eurozone crisis seems to have stabilized,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
Airlines in emerging markets have taken the greatest share of the growth in passenger travel over recent months. In international markets, half of the growth in air travel over the last 4 months was carried by Asia-Pacific airlines.
By contrast, European and North American airlines continue to record the slowest growth rates on international markets. “In contrast to the total international market trend, European airlines have seen no growth in international passenger volumes since October 2012,” IATA said. “Although the peak of the Eurozone crisis appears to have subsided, several economies in the region are facing slow or no economic growth and high unemployment rates.”
