Middle East airlines, which include the three rapidly expanding and fast growing Gulf carriers, saw passenger demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rise 2.9 percent (year-on-year) in April, which was a recovery from a 3.0 percent decline in traffic in March.
Notwithstanding the monthly turnaround, in seasonally-adjusted terms the downward trend in traffic growth continues, reflecting broader structural changes affecting the industry in the region. Capacity fell 1.6 percent and load factor soared 3.5 percentage points to 80.5 percent, according to data released by International Air Transport Association (IATA), yesterday.
The IATA, which represents some 290 airlines comprising 82 percent of global air traffic, announced global passenger traffic results for April 2019 showing that demand rose by 4.3 percent compared to April 2018. April capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased by 3.6 percent, and load factor climbed 0.6 percentage point to 82.8 percent, which was a record for the month of April, surpassing last year’s record of 82.2 percent.
Regionally, Africa, Europe and Latin America posted record load factors.
Comparisons between the two months are distorted owing to the timing of the Easter holiday, which occurred on April 1 in 2018 but fell much later in the month in 2019.
“We experienced solid but not exceptional rising demand for air connectivity in April. This partly is owing to the timing of Easter, but also reflects the slowing global economy. Driven by tariffs and trade disputes, global trade is falling, and as a result, we are not seeing traffic growing at the same levels as a year ago. However, airlines are doing a very good job of managing aircraft utilization, leading to record load factors,” said Alexandre de Juniac (pictured), IATA’s Director General and CEO.
In April international passenger demand rose 5.1 percent compared to April 2018. All regions recorded year-on-year traffic increases, led by airlines in Europe. Total capacity climbed 3.8 percent, and load factor climbed 1.1 percentage points to 82.5 percent.
European airlines’ April traffic increased 8.0 percent compared to the year-ago period, up from 4.9 percent annual growth in March. While this represented the strongest monthly growth since December, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, RPKs have only risen by 1 percent since November 2018, suggesting the global economic and trade backdrop – along with the uncertainty surrounding Brexit – is impacting demand. Capacity rose 6.6 percent and load factor surged 1.1 percentage points to 85.7 percent, highest among the regions.
Asia-Pacific carriers posted a 2.9 percent traffic rise in April, up from 2 percent growth in March but well below the long-term average.
Capacity climbed 3.7 percent and load factor dropped 0.6 percentage point to 80.8 percent. Asia-Pacific was the only region to experience a decline in load factor compared to the same month a year ago.
Results largely reflect the slowdown in global trade, including the impact from the China-US trade tensions on the broader region, which continue to weigh on passenger demand. North American airlines posted a 5.5 percent demand increase compared to April 2018, which was up from 3.2 percent year-over-year growth in March.
A strong domestic economy, low unemployment and a strong dollar are offsetting any impacts from current trade tensions. Capacity climbed 3.2 percent, and load factor rose 1.8 percentage points to 82.2 percent.
