Trade Disputes Impacting Air Travels, Says IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has observed that the falling global trade occasioned by trade disputes is impacting on passenger traffic.
This observation was made as the global body announced global passenger traffic results for April, 2019, showing that demand (Revenue Passenger Kilometres or RPKs) rose by 4.3 per cent compared to April, 2018.
April’s capacity (Available Seat Kilometres or ASKs) increased by 3.6 per cent, and load factor climbed 0.6 percentage point to 82.8 per cent, which was a record for the month of April, surpassing last year’s record of 82.2 per cent.
Regionally, Africa, Europe and Latin America posted record load factors. The report also noted that African airlines had a 1.1 per cent traffic increase in April, which was down from 1.6 per cent growth in March and was the slowest regional growth since early 2015.
Like Latin America, Africa is seeing some economic and political uncertainties in the largest markets. Capacity climbed 0.1 per cent, and load factor edged up 0.7 percentage point to 72.6 per cent.
Comparisons between the two months are distorted owing to the timing of the Easter holiday, which occurred on April 1, in 2018, but fell much later in the month in 2019. IATA’s Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, said, “Driven by tariffs and trade disputes, global trade is falling, and as a result, we are not seeing traffic growing at the same level as a year ago.
“However, airlines are doing a very good job of managing aircraft utilisation, leading to record load factors.”
Meanwhile, leaders of the global air transport industry are gathering in Seoul, Republic of Korea, for the 75th IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit (WATS).
Hosted by Korean Air and held for the first time in the Republic of Korea, the event is expected to attract more than a thousand top leaders from among IATA’s 290 member airlines, their suppliers, governments, strategic partners, international organisations and the media.
