IATA: Passenger traffic grew 76% in June

Dubai: “The Bay”

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed passenger data for the month of June 2022, which showed that the air travel sector maintained high recovery rates.

Total passenger traffic increased by 76.2% in June 2022 compared to the same month last year, primarily due to the strong recovery in international travel, which reached 70.8% from pre-Covid-19 levels.

Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, said: “Air travel continues to record strong growth rates. People are keen to take advantage of the freedom to travel as much as possible after two years of closures and strict border crossing procedures.”

Walsh added: “In the northern half of the world, we are witnessing a return to peak levels in the summer season, confirming expectations that the role of easing travel restrictions is playing in achieving a strong increase in air travel demand. At the same time, it is a major challenge today and perhaps in the future to keep up with this demand, this reinforces the adoption of flexibility in the application of the air gap rules and the slow implementation of the 80-20 rule, which the European Commission announced its intention to to return for adoption.

Airport problems

It is enough to take a look at a number of major airports to realize the scale of the problems facing the airlines and their passengers as these airports are no longer able to support their stated capacity even with the current air opening threshold of 64%, prompting them to extend their procedures regarding the maximum capacity for travelers until the end of October, underscoring the importance of resilience as a key element of the sector’s recovery.

Airport procedures to limit the number of passengers prevent airlines from taking advantage of high demand. Heathrow tried to blame the chaos on the airlines. However, service performance data for the first six months of this year indicate the airport was unable to provide basic services and its failure to meet its passenger safety targets, which reached 14.3 points. Although no data has yet been released for the month of June, expectations suggest that the level of airport services will fall to the minimum level since records began to be compiled.”

Global passenger markets

Asia Pacific airlines recorded a 492% increase in passenger traffic in June compared to the same period last year. Capacity increased by 138.9% and load factor by 45.8 percentage points to 76.7%. The region is now more open to foreign visitors and tourists, helping to accelerate the pace of recovery.

In June, European airlines achieved a 234.5% increase in passenger traffic compared to the same month last year, while capacity increased by 134.5% and the cabin factor increased by 25.8 percentage points to 86.3%. International travel prices in Europe are also above pre-COVID-19 levels based on seasonally adjusted figures.

In June, airlines in the Middle East recorded a 246.5% increase in passenger traffic compared to the same period in 2021. Capacity also increased by 102.4% compared to the same period last year and the cabin factor increased by 32.4 percentage points to 78.0 %.

In June, North American airlines saw a 168.9% improvement in passenger traffic compared to the same period in 2021. Capacity increased by 95.0% and cabin factor rose 24.1 percentage points to 87.7%, the highest among the regions.

Passenger traffic for Latin American airlines increased in June by 136.6% compared to the same period in 2021. While capacity increased by 107.4% and the cabin factor increased by 10.3 percentage points to 83.3%. After outperforming the rest of the regions in cabin factor for 20 consecutive months, airlines in Latin America dropped to third place during June.

African airlines recorded a 103.6 percent increase in passenger revenue per kilometers in June compared to the same period last year. In June 2022, capacity increased by 61.9% and load factor increased by 15.2 percentage points to 74.2%, which is the lowest percentage among all regions. Meanwhile, international air traffic between Africa and neighboring regions approached pre-Covid-19 levels.

Although passenger revenue per kilometers (RPK) in the Chinese domestic market fell by 45.0% year-on-year in June, this represents a significant improvement compared to its annual performance in May due to the easing of lockdown measures.

Domestic travel in Japan increased by 146.4% in June compared to the same period last year.