Solid Passenger Growth Continues: IATA

Global passenger traffic results continued to rise in April, with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showing that demand rose by 4.3% compared to April 2018.

April capacity increased by 3.6%, and load factor climbed 0.6 percentage point to 82.8%, a record for the month of April, surpassing last year’s record of 82.2%. Regionally, Africa, Europe and Latin America posted record load factors.

Comparisons between the two months are distorted owing to the timing of the Easter holiday, which occurred on April 1 in 2018, but fell much later in the month in 2019.

“We experienced solid, but not exceptional rising demand for air connectivity in April. This partly is owing to the timing of Easter, but also reflects the slowing global economy. Driven by tariffs and trade disputes, global trade is falling, and as a result, we are not seeing traffic growing at the same levels as a year ago. However, airlines are doing a very good job of managing aircraft utilization, leading to record load factors,” said IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac.

North American airlines posted a 5.5% demand increase compared to April 2018, which was up from 3.2% year-over-year growth in March. A strong domestic economy, low unemployment and a strong dollar are offsetting any impacts from current trade tensions. Capacity climbed 3.2%, and load factor rose 1.8 percentage points to 82.2%.