Latest figures from aviation industry group the International Air Transport Association (IATA) show that passenger demand for air travel continued to grow in March.
The monthly data show that total global air passenger traffic grew by 52.4%, on a year-on-year basis, in March; resulting in global air passenger numbers now back up to 88% of March 2019, pre-Covid levels.
Domestic traffic for March was up by just over 34%, year-on-year; while international traffic surged by nearly 69% – boosted by a rebound in the Asia-Pacific region.
Airlines across Europe, North America, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America all saw healthy double-digit passenger growth; but Asia-Pacific carriers returned a near 300% year-on-year upsurge.
“The calendar year first quarter ended on a strong note for air travel demand,” said IATA director general Willie Walsh.
“Domestic markets have been near their pre-pandemic levels for months. And for international travel two key waypoints were topped. First, demand increased by 3.5 percentage points compared to the previous month’s growth, to reach 81.6% of pre-COVID levels. This was led by a near-tripling of demand for Asia-Pacific carriers as China’s re-opening took hold. And efficiency is improving as international load factors reached 81.3%. Even more importantly, ticket sales for both domestic and international travel give every indication that strong growth will continue into the peak Northern Hemisphere summer travel season,” Mr Walsh said.
Mr Walsh also had his say on the current wave of air traffic controller/ATC strikes hampering European passenger journeys ahead of the peak summer travel season and urged action.
“As traveller expectations build towards the peak Northern Hemisphere summer travel season, airlines are doing their best to meet the desire and need to fly. Unfortunately, a lack of capacity means that some of those travelers may be disappointed. Part of this capacity shortfall is attributable to the widely reported labour shortages impacting many parts of the aviation value chain, as well as supply chain issues affecting the aircraft manufacturing sector that is resulting in aircraft delivery delays. However, a significant share of recent flight cancellations, primarily in Europe, are owing to job actions by air traffic controllers and others. These irresponsible actions resulted in thousands of unnecessary cancellations in March. This is unacceptable and should not be tolerated by the authorities,” he said.
