The International Air Transport Association’s (Iata’s) global passenger traffic results for November 2019 show that demand – measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) – rose 3.3% compared with the same month in 2018.
This was unchanged from October’s result and below the long-term trend.
Capacity – measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs) – increased by 1.8%, and load factor climbed 1.1 percentage points to 81.1%, which was a record for any November.
“November’s moderate result reflects the continuing influence of slower economic activity, geopolitical tensions and other disruptions, including strikes in Europe. On the plus side, positive developments in the US–China trade talks, in tandem with signs of improving business confidence, could support an uptick in travel demand.
“In the meantime, continued modest capacity growth is helping to maximise asset efficiency,” Iata director-general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said in a statement issued this week.
INTERNATIONAL PASSENGER MARKETS
International passenger demand rose by 3.1% year-on-year in November – a marginal increase from the 3% year-over-year growth achieved in October.
All regions recorded traffic increases, except for Latin America. Capacity climbed 0.7% and load factor increased by 1.8 percentage points to 80.1%.
African airlines’ traffic increased by 4.9% in November, up from the 2.3% growth recorded in October. Challenges in the South African market were more than offset by strong performance elsewhere in the region, Iata noted.
Capacity rose 2.8%, and load factor climbed 1.4 percentage points to 70.3%.
DOMESTIC PASSENGER MARKETS
Demand for domestic travel increased by 3.5% year-on-year in November, which was a marginal decline from 3.7% year-on-year growth recorded in October.
Capacity rose by 3.8% but load factor slipped by 0.2 of a percentage point to 82.8%.