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Growth in air travel demand starts to slow
Growth in demand for air travel has slowed and is expected to remain that way for the rest of the year.
Releasing its latest figures, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said a rise in fuel prices would put an end to lower fares stimulating demand.
Demand, measured by revenue passenger kilometers, rose by 6.2% in April compared to April 2017, but this was down from a 12-month high of 9.7% growth in March.
IATA said comparisons are impacted by comparatively late timing of Easter in 2017, which boosted traffic.
April capacity increased by 5.9%, and load factor climbed 0.2 percentage point to 82.3%, a record for the month of April.
"Demand for air transport continues to be above the long-term trend. However, increases in airline cost inputs, most notably fuel prices, means that we are unlikely to see increased stimulation from lower fares in 2018, compared to previous years,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.
IATA will meet for its 74th Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Sydney next week (June 3-5).
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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