Air Travel demand for 2015 reaches five-year high

Based in Geneva, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced the 2105 results for global passenger traffic, which has seen revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) rise 6.5% compared to 2014, a figure which is also comfortably above the 10-year average growth rate of 5.5%. However, compared to 2014, economic fundamentals were weaker when compared to 2014, though passenger demand was helped with lower air fares. Overall, worldwide, air fares fell by 5% compared to 2014. Annual capacity was up 5.6% against 2014 figures, resulting in a 0.6 percentage point climb to a record 80.3% annual high. Figures also reveal that Asia-Pacific carriers were responsible for a third of the annual increase in traffic. According to IATA’s Director General and CEO, Tony Tyler, ““Last year’s very strong performance, against a weaker economic backdrop, confirms the strong demand for aviation connectivity. But even as the appetite for air travel increased, consumers benefitted from lower fares compared to 2014.”
International Passenger Markets
o Asia-Pacific Carriers: 8.2% increase in demand against 2014 with capacity rising 6.4%, resulting in load factor increasing 1.3 percentage points to 78.2%
o European Carriers: 5% increase in international demand, 3.8% rise in capacity resulting in load factor increasing 1% to 82.6%. End of year saw decline in traffic growth owing to the Lufthansa strike and closure of Transaero
o North American Carriers: 3.2% rise in demand, 3.1% rise in capacity resulting in load factor increasing 0.1 percentage points to 81.8%
o Middle East Carriers: 10.2% increase in traffic, 13.2% rise in capacity with 1.7% reduction in load factor to 76.4%
o Latin American Carriers: 9.3% rise in traffic, 9.2% rise in capacity resulting in a 0.1 percentage point rise in load factor to 80.1%
o African Carriers: 3.0% rise in demand, 1.5% increase in capacity resulting in a single percentage point increase in load factor to 68.5%
Where domestic air travel is concerned, 2015 saw a 6.3% rise with growth in all markets resulting in a 5.2% rise in capacity and a 0.9 percentage point increase in load factor to 81.5%. Brazil’s poor economic situation translated into just a 0.8% increase in air travel, while the USA saw a 4.9% increase in domestic traffic and a resultant all-time-high 85.4% load factor.
The conclusions of IATA are: “Aviation delivered strong results for the global economy in 2015, enabling connectivity and helping to drive economic development. The value of aviation is well understood by friends and families whom aviation brings together, by business travelers meeting clients in distant cities, and particularly by those for whom aviation is a lifeline in times of crisis.
“It is very disappointing to see that some governments still wrongly believe that the value of taxes and charges that can be extracted from air transport outweighs the benefits—economic and social—of connectivity. The most recent example is the dramatic increase in the Italian Council Tax levied on air passengers. This 33-38% hike will damage Italian economic competitiveness, reduce passenger numbers by over 755,000 and GDP by EUR 146 million per year. An estimated 2,300 jobs a year will be lost. At a time when the global economy is showing signs of weakening, governments should be looking for ways to stimulate spending, not discourage it.”