October Passenger Demand Rebounds
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reports global passenger traffic results for October showing that demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometres, or RPKs) rose 7.2% compared to the same month last year.
Capacity grew 6.2% and load factor climbed 0.8 percentage points to 80.8%, which was a record for the month.
October’s performance was a strong bounce-back after the hurricane-related disruptions in September. Domestic and international travel growth largely was in balance.
“As expected, the recent severe weather in the Americas region had only a temporary impact on the healthy travel demand we have seen this year, and we remain on course for another year of above-trend growth,” said IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac.
October international passenger demand rose 7.3% compared to October 2016, which was an improvement compared to the 6.6% demand increase for September. Airlines in all regions recorded growth. Total capacity climbed 6%, and load factor increased 1.0 percentage point to 79.4%.
Asia-Pacific airlines led all regions with traffic growth of 10.3% compared to the year-ago period, which was up from an 8.7% rise in September.
North American airlines’ traffic climbed 3.7% in October compared to the year-ago period, lowest among the regions, but an improvement compared to the hurricane-impacted 3% growth in September. Capacity rose 5.2% and load factor dropped 1.1 percentage points to 79.2%. North America was one of just two regions to post a load factor decline. There continue to be indications that inbound travel to the US is being deterred by the additional security measures now involved with travelling to that country.
“Demand for air travel remains strong as we head into the holiday travel season, and signs point to the broad-based economic upturn continuing into 2018, which is good news for demand for air travel,” said de Juniac.
