KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — The global airline industry has gotten off to a strong start in 2024 despite economic and geopolitical uncertainties, with January global passenger demand showing a 16.6 per cent increase.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which measures total demand based on revenue passenger kilometres, said international demand surged 20.8 per cent while domestic demand rose 10.4 per cent.
“Total capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, was up 14.1 per cent; and the load factor was 79.9 per cent (up 1.7 points),” it said in a statement.
For the international passenger markets, capacity was up 20.9 per cent, and the load factor remained at 79.7 per cent in January 2024.
As for the domestic passenger markets, capacity increased 4.6 per cent, and the load factor was 80.2 per cent (up 4.2 points).
On Asia-Pacific airlines, IATA said international traffic in January 2024 saw a 45.4 per cent increase year-on-year, continuing the region’s rapid recovery after the lifting of pandemic restrictions.
It said capacity climbed 48.1 per cent, but the load factor fell by 1.5 percentage points to 82.6 per cent.
“The exceptionally strong growth rate is largely attributable to China, which was in the early stages of lifting Covid-19 travel restrictions in January 2023.
“The recovery in major international routes to/from Asia-Pacific is still lagging, but routes such as Asia-Middle East have exceeded pre-pandemic levels,” IATA said.
— Bernama
