Air travel demand surged, again, in August; with load factor – showing how full planes are – reaching record levels, latest figures show.
The latest monthly passenger figures – from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – show global air passenger demand rose 8.6%, year-on-year, in August. That broke down to a near 11% surge in international flight demand and a 5.6% rise in domestic flight demand around the world.
Notably, load factor reached 86.2%, which was a new record monthly high.
“The market for air travel is hot and airlines are doing a great job at meeting the growing demand for travel. Efficiency gains have driven load factors to record highs while the 6.5% capacity increase demonstrates resilience in the face of persistent supply chain issues and infrastructure deficiencies,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
“Looking ahead, the continued strong demand growth signals that we could be fast approaching an infrastructure capacity crunch that would restrict connectivity and choice for passengers and businesses. If governments want to maximize the benefits of aviation, they must take bold decisions to ensure sufficient infrastructure capacity. And, in the interim, both airports and air navigation service providers need to do more with the resources they currently have. In particular, the variance in declared capacity of airports with broadly the same infrastructure needs to be resolved, with airports emulating the best performers. The industry cannot afford to under-utilize the airport infrastructure that we have.”
