Mideast carriers grow fastest in global traffic

Middle Eastern carriers recorded the highest growth in the international passenger traffic last month by posting a 23.9 per cent year-on-year increase, according to the international traffic results for September announced by the International Air Transport Association (Iata) on Tuesday.

The earlier occurrence of Ramadan dampened demand in August, but boosted September's traffic. This outstripped capacity growth of 15.3 per cent. Nonetheless, load factors of 76.8 per cent were below the industry's 80 per cent performance, the Iata said.

In international freight traffic as well, Middle East carriers bucked the declining trend with a 24 per cent increase over previous-year levels.

"Even through this is less than the 24.2 per cent recorded in August, when adjusted for seasonality this represents an increase of 1.4 per cent over August levels. Moreover, when compared to pre-recession levels, the region's carriers are carrying a third more traffic than they did prior to the recession," the statement said.

North American carriers saw their passenger traffic climb back to pre-recession (early 2008) levels during the month with an 11.1 per cent increase in passenger demand compared to the previous September, the statement added.
Overall, the international passenger traffic had a 10.5 per cent year-on-year increase last month, which is significantly stronger than the 6.5 per cent rise recorded for August.

The international freight traffic recorded a 14.8 per cent year-on-year increase, which is significantly weaker than the 19.0 per cent rise recorded in August

"The industry's situation is volatile. Passenger traffic represents about three quarters of the industry's revenues. While September's passenger growth is reassuring, the accelerating decline of air freight, including in Asia, is an early indicator of some turbulence ahead," Giovanni Bisignani, Iata's Director General and CEO said.

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