Strong Passenger Demand Continues into

2016Geneva - The International Air Transport Association (IATA)

announced global passenger traffic results for January 2016

showing demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose

7.1% compared to January 2015. This was ahead of the 2015

full year growth rate of 6.5%. January capacity rose 5.6%, with

the result that load factor rose 1.1 percentage points to 78.8%,

the highest load factor ever recorded for the first month of the

year.

“January maintained the strong traffic growth trend seen in

2015, showing the resilience of demand for connectivity despite

recent turmoil in equity markets. The record load factor is a

result of strong demand for our product and airlines making the

most productive use of their assets. Underlying conditions point

to another strong year for passenger traffic, with the latest

decline in oil prices likely providing additional stimulus for air

travel growth,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and

CEO.

http://www.iata.org/

International Passenger Markets

January international passenger traffic rose 7.3% compared to the year-

ago period. Capacity rose 5.9% and load factor rose 1.0 percentage

point to 78.8%. All regions recorded year-over-year increases in

demand.

Asia Pacific carriers recorded an increase of 10.3% compared to

January 2015. Capacity rose 7.6%, pushing up load factor 2.0

percentage points to 79.2%. A 7.3% increase in the number of direct

airport connections within the Asia region over the past 12 months or so

has helped to stimulate demand.

European carriers’ international traffic climbed 4.2% in January

compared to the year-ago period. Capacity rose 2.6% and load factor

rose 1.2 percentage points to 78.8%. Airline strikes and the shutdown of

Russia’s Transaero caused the region’s traffic to fall in the last quarter of

2015. Volumes have picked up somewhat in recent months.

North American airlines saw demand rise 2.4% in January over a year

ago. Capacity rose 1.3%, pushing up load factor 0.8 percentage points

to 80.3%. North American international traffic growth was weakest

among the regions, as carriers have focused on the stronger and larger

domestic market.

http://www.iata.org/

Middle East carriers had the strongest year-over-year demand growth

in January at 10.9%, helped by ongoing network and fleet expansion.

Capacity rose 12.9% and load factor dipped 1.4 percentage points to

77.8%.

Latin American airlines’ traffic climbed 8.9% in January. Capacity rose

7.8% and load factor increased 0.8 percentage points to 82.5%, highest

among the regions. Domestic traffic remains under pressure from

economic difficulties in the region’s biggest economies, notably Brazil,

but the strong growth in international demand shows little sign of

slowing.

African airlines saw January traffic jump 12.1% compared to January

2015. This continues the strong upward trend in travel since mid-2015

that coincides with a jump in exports from the region over the same

period. With capacity up 8.2%, load factor rose 2.5 percentage point to

71.3%.

Domestic Passenger Markets

Domestic air travel rose 6.8% in January year-on-year. Capacity rose

5.1% and load factor was 78.9%, up 1.3% percentage points.

http://www.iata.org/

(1)% of industry RPKs in 2015 (2)Year-on-year change in load factor (3)Load factor level

*Note: the seven domestic passenger markets for which broken-down data are available

account for 30% of global total RPKs and approximately 82% of total domestic RPKs.

India’s domestic air travel soared 22.9% in January compared

to a year ago. Growth is being propelled by the comparatively

strong domestic economy and increases in air services. The

Indian market overtook both Australia and Japan during 2015

and is currently level with Russia at around 1.2% of global

RPKs.

Russian domestic traffic slipped 2.0% in January. Despite the

decline, the Russian domestic load factor reached an all-time

January high as capacity fell at a faster rate, suggesting that

local carriers have absorbed traffic affected by the shutdown of

Transaero.

http://www.iata.org/

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