The representative body of the global airline industry, the International Air Transport Association (Iata), has reported that air passenger traffic in May this year showed an accelerating recovery, on the eve of the peak northern hemisphere summer holiday travel season. In year-on-year (y-o-y) terms, total air passenger traffic in May was up 83.1%. International passenger traffic rocketed 325.8%. While domestic traffic rose only 0.2%, this was the result of severe travel restrictions imposed in China.

Total passenger traffic this past May reached 68.7% of the levels of May 2019, which was before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. This was the highest level, compared with pre-Covid demand, achieved so far this year.

“The travel recovery continues to gather momentum,” affirmed Iata director-general Willie Walsh. “People need to travel. And when governments remove Covid-19 restrictions, they do. Many major international route areas – including within Europe, and the Middle East-North America routes – are already exceeding pre-Covid-19 levels. Completely removing all Covid-19 restrictions is the way forward, with Australia being the latest to do so [last week]. The major exception to the optimism of this rebound in travel is China, which saw a dramatic 73.2% fall in domestic travel compared to the previous year. Its continuing zero-Covid policy is out-of-step with the rest of the world and it shows in the dramatically slower recovery of China-related travel.”

The performance of the other major domestic air travel markets was dramatically different to that of the Chinese domestic market. The second-worst performing region was the US, and that reported a y-o-y rise of 26.1%, followed by Australia (up 34.7%), then Brazil (jumping 73.1%), Japan (surging 132.7%) and India (skyrocketing 405.7%).

In terms of international air traffic, the best performing region was the Asia-Pacific, which registered a y-o-y jump of 453.3%. The severe Chinese restrictions meant, however, that total (international plus domestic) air traffic in the region actually declined by 4.7%, y-o-y.     

Again, in y-o-y terms, European airlines recorded a surge in international traffic of 412.3%, while the equivalent figure for Middle East carriers was 317.2%, and that for North American airlines was 203.4%. Latin American carriers reported a y-o-y increase of 180.5% in May, while the equivalent number for African airlines was 134.9%.

“The recovery in travel markets is no less than impressive,” he said. “As we accelerate towards the peak summer season in the northern hemisphere, strains in the system are appearing in some European and North American hubs. Nobody wants to see passengers suffering from delays or cancellations. But passengers can be confident that solutions are being urgently implemented. Airlines, airports and governments are working together, however, standing up the workforce needed to meet growing demand will take time and require patience in the few locations where the bottlenecks are the most severe.”