KUALA LUMPUR: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has maintained a six per cent passenger demand growth this year, amid uncertainties from trade tensions, protective tariffs and Brexit.
It said global passenger traffic for November 2018 was healthy but moderating, where revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) rose 6.2 per cent compared with the same period in 2017, slightly lower than the 6.3 per cent growth in October.
“Capacity in terms of available seat kilometres (ASKs) increased 6.8 per cent year-on-year but load factor dipped 0.4 percentage point to 80.0 per cent. It was only the third time in two years that load factor fell on a year-to-year basis,” it said in a statement yesterday.
IATA director-general and chief executive officer Alexandre de Juniac said traffic was solid but there were clear signs that growth was moderating in line with the slowing global economy. The association said the November 2018 international passenger demand rose 6.6 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier, up from 6.2 per cent in October with growth shown in all regions led by carriers in Europe. – Bernama
“Total capacity climbed 6.7 per cent while load factor dipped 0.1 percentage point to 78.4 per cent,” it said.
Domestic passenger markets saw travel demand rising 5.6 per cent in November 2018 compared with the same period in 2017, its slowest growth in 11 months and down from 6.5 per cent in October.
All markets except for Australia showed growth with ASKs climbing 6.9 per cent but load factor dropped 1.0 percentage point to 82.8 per cent.-Bernama
