SINGAPORE, 8 March 2024: Airlines achieved a robust start to the year, with passenger demand up 16.6% in January, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reports in its latest data released this week.
Total demand, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), was up 16.6%; total capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASK), was up 14.1%; and the load factor was 79.9% (+1.7pt)
International demand rose 20.8%; capacity was up 20.9%, and the load factor remained at 79.7% (+0.0pt)
Domestic demand rose 10.4%; capacity was up 4.6%, and the load factor was 80.2% (+4.2pt)
“2024 is off to a strong start despite economic and geopolitical uncertainties. As governments look to build prosperity in their economies in the busiest election year ever, they must see aviation as a catalyst for growth. Increased taxes and onerous regulations are a counterweight to prosperity. We will be looking to governments for policies that help aviation reduce costs, improve efficiency and progress towards net zero CO2 emissions by 2050,” said IATA’s director general Willie Walsh.
Regional Breakdown – International Passenger Markets
Asia-Pacific Airlines saw a 45.4% increase in January 2024 traffic compared to January 2023, continuing the region’s rapid recovery after the lifting of pandemic restrictions. Capacity climbed 48.1%, and the load factor fell by 1.5 percentage points to 82.6%. The exceptionally strong growth rate is largely attributable to China, which was in the early stages of lifting COVID-19 travel restrictions in January 2023. The recovery in major international routes to/from Asia-Pacific is still lagging, but routes such as Asia-Middle East have exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
European carriers’ January 2024 traffic rose 10.8% versus January 2023. Capacity increased by 10.7%, and the load factor increased by 0.1 percentage points to 77.3%. Routes between Europe and North America have rebounded particularly strongly from the pandemic and stand 6.5% higher than in January 2020.
Middle Eastern airlines posted a 16.2% rise in January 2024 traffic compared to a year ago. Capacity rose 15.7%, and load factor climbed 0.4 percentage points to 79.9%.
North American carriers saw a 12.3% traffic rise in January 2024 compared to January 2023. Capacity also increased by 13.7%, and the load factor fell 1.0 percentage points to 79.4%.
Latin American airlines’ traffic rose 17.9% compared to the same month in 2023. January capacity climbed 13.2%, pushing the load factor up 3.4 percentage points to 86%, the highest among the regions.
African airlines saw an 18.5% traffic increase in January 2024 compared to a year ago. January capacity was up 19.2%, causing load factor to decline 0.4 percentage points to 73.3%, the lowest among the regions.
