A full-year traffic results for 2013 released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) during the week, shows a 5.2 percent increase in passenger demand compared to 2012.
The 2013 performance aligns with the average annual growth rate of the past 30 years according to IATA, while capacity rose 4.8 percent and load factor averaged 79.5 percent up 0.4 percentage points over 2012.
According to Tony Tyler, director general of IATA, demand in international markets (5.4 percent) expanded at a slightly faster rate than domestic travel (4.9 percent) adding that strongest overall growth (domestic and international combined) was recorded by carriers in the Middle East (11.4 percent) followed by Asia-Pacific (7.1 percent), Latin America (6.3 percent) and Africa (5.2 percent). The slowest growth was in the developed markets of North America (2.3 percent) and Europe (3.8 percent).
“We saw healthy demand growth in 2013 despite the very difficult economic environment. There was a clear improvement trend over the course of the year which bodes well for 2014.
“Last year’s demand performance demonstrates the essential and growing role that aviation-enabled connectivity plays in our world. And with system-wide load factors at 79.5 percent it is also clear that airlines are continuing to drive efficiencies to an ever-higher level,” he said.
He explained that in the analysis, Asia-Pacific airlines’ traffic rose 5.3 percent in 2013, the highest increase among the three major regions and slightly above 2012 annual growth of 5.2 percent.
After a slow start, carriers in the region saw a pick-up in demand in the third quarter, supported by stronger performance of major economies such as China and Japan. Capacity expansion of 5.2 percent meant load factor was virtually flat at 77.7percent.
European carriers saw traffic rise 3.8 percent in 2013 compared to 2012, a slowdown compared to annual growth of 5.3 percent in 2012. Capacity rose 2.8 percent and load factor was 81 percent, second highest among the regions and a 0.5 percentage point rise over 2012.
Modest economic improvements in the Eurozone since the second quarter and rising consumer and business confidence are providing a stronger demand base for international travel; and after weakness in previous months, job losses in the Eurozone stabilised in December.
He added that North American carriers reported the slowest passenger growth of any region at 3.0 percent compared to 2012 but an improvement over 2012 growth of 1.3 percent. With capacity up just 2.2 percent, load factor rose 0.8 percentage points to 82.8 percent, the highest for any region.
He said the economy is showing some positive signs adding that employment growth has picked up, as has consumer spending.
Middle East airlines recorded the strongest increase in passenger traffic in 2013, a rise of 12.1 percent compared to 2012, but below the 15.4 percent growth recorded in 2012 compared to 2011.
Carriers in the region have benefitted from the strength of regional economies, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and solid growth in business-related premium travel, particularly to developing markets such as Africa.
African airlines’ demand rose 5.5 percent, slightly above the global average but below 2012 growth of 7.5 percent.
Capacity expansion of 5.2 percent meant load factor rose 1.9 percentage points to 69 percent the lowest among the regions.
However, capacity grew faster at 12.8 percent and load factor declined slightly by 0.1 percentage points to 77.3 percent from 77.4 percent in 2012.
By: Sade Williams
