Global air passenger demand continued to grow in June – latest monthly figures from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) show – but the ongoing Middle East conflict slowed demand growth to just 2.6%.
European airlines were among the global performance leaders in June, with a 2.8% year-on-year demand increase and a load factor of 87.4%.
“In June, demand for air travel grew by 2.6%. That’s a slower pace than we have seen in previous months and reflects disruptions around military conflict in the Middle East. With demand growth lagging the 3.4% capacity expansion, load factors dipped 0.6 percentage points from their all-time record-high levels. At 84.5% globally, however, load factors are still very strong. And with a modest 1.8% capacity growth visible in August schedules, load factors over the Northern summer are unlikely to stray far from their recent historic highs,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
