IATA: Asia Pacific and Middle East lead growth in 2016, Latin America and Africa positive

IATA outlined (02-Feb-2017) the following international passenger traffic highlights for 2016:

• Global: Traffic rose 6.3% year-on-year with all regions showing demand growth and capacity increasing 6.9% year-on-year. Average load factor fell 0.2 ppts to 79.6%;
• Asia Pacific: Demand up 8.3%, the second-fastest regional growth and considerably ahead of the five-year growth average of 6.9%. Capacity rose 7.7%, pushing up the load factor 0.4 ppts to 78.6%;
• Europe: Traffic rose 4.8%, with European carriers in particularly benefiting from 2H2016 traffic improvement, with passenger volumes increasing at an average of 15% year-over-year since Jun-2016, easily compensating for a slight decline over 1H2016. Capacity rose 5% and despite a decline of 0.1 percentage points to 82.8%, the load factor remains the highest among the regions;
• North America: Traffic up 2.6%, with most growth occurring in 2Q2106. Traffic has been strongest on Pacific routes. The North Atlantic, by contrast, has been fairly flat. Capacity rose 3.3%, reducing the load factor by 0.5 ppts to 81.3%.
• Middle East: Traffic up. 11.8%, the strongest regional annual traffic growth for the fifth year in a row, consolidating the region’s position as the third-largest market for international passengers. Capacity growth was 13.7%, continued to outstrip demand, with the result that the load factor fell 1.3 percentage points to 74.7%;
• Latin America: Traffic up 7.4%, well ahead of capacity growth of 4.8%, with load factor strengthened by 1.9 ppts to 81.3%. International traffic from Latin America remains very healthy despite some economic and political uncertainty in the region’s largest market, Brazil;
• Africa: Traffic up 7.4%, the best growth for the region since 2012. Growth is being underpinned by strong demand on routes to/from Asia and the Middle East. Capacity exactly matched demand, with the result that the load factor remained flat at 67.7%. [more - original PR]