Passenger air travel demand grows but slows amid Middle East disruptions

“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.

A regional breakdown shows varying performance across markets:

- Asia-Pacific airlines recorded a notable increase of 7.2% in international passenger traffic compared to June last year.

- European carriers saw international demand grow by 2.8%.

- Latin American airlines experienced strong growth with a rise of 9.3%.

- African airlines registered a slight decrease of -0.3%.

- North American carriers reported an international demand fall of -0.3%.

- Middle Eastern carriers experienced an international traffic drop of -0.4%, affected largely by military conflict impacting routes to North America and Europe.

The domestic market analysis showed that Brazil had significant growth with an increase of more than eighteen percent in domestic passenger kilometers traveled over June last year; China also saw robust domestic growth at more than seven percent.

Globally, while overall passenger numbers continue to rise compared to last year, the pace has slowed due partly to ongoing disruptions such as military conflict affecting certain regions and routes.