DOHA: Middle East carriers had the strongest annual traffic growth at 13% during 2014, more than double the global average, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA) here the other day.
“The region’s economies continue to show robust growth in non-oil sectors, and are therefore well-placed to withstand the plunge in oil revenues. Capacity rose 11.9% and load factor climbed 0.8 percentage points to 78.1%,” IATA said.
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In comparison, international passenger traffic rose 6.1% in 2014 year-on-year. Capacity rose 6.4% and load factor slipped 0.1 percentage points to 79.2%, it said.
More than half of the growth in (international) passenger travel occurred on airlines in emerging markets including Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, it said.
“Demand for the passenger business did well in 2014. With a 5.9% expansion of demand, the industry out-performed the 10-year average growth rate. Carriers in the Middle East posted double-digit growth while results in Africa were barely above previous-year levels,” IATA director general and CEO Tony Tyler said.
Asia Pacific carriers recorded an increase of 5.8% compared to 2013, which was the largest increase among the three biggest regions. However, traffic has been broadly flat over the past four months or so amid signs of a slowdown in regional production activity, although trade volumes have remained strong. Capacity rose 7%, pushing down load factor 1.1 percentage points to 76.9%.
European carriers’ international traffic was up 5.7% in 2014. Capacity rose 5.2% and load factor rose 0.6 percentage points 81.6%. “Robust travel on low-fare airlines as well as airlines registered in Turkey offset economic weakness and risks in the region,” it said.
North American airlines saw demand rise 3.1% in 2014 over 2013. Among developed economies, the US is the standout performer. Capacity rose 4.6%, dropping load factor 1.1 percentage points to 81.7%. This was the highest among all regions.
Latin American airlines’ traffic rose 5.8%. Capacity rose 4.7% and load factor climbed 0.8 percentage points to 80%. While Brazilian economic growth has stagnated, regional trade volumes have improved in recent months.
African airlines experienced the slowest annual demand growth, up 0.9% compared to 2013. With capacity up 3%, load factor fell 1.5 percentage points to 67.5%, the lowest among the regions.
The weakness in international air travel for regional carriers is not believed to be attributable to the Ebola outbreak, the impact of which has been restricted largely to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, markets that comprise a very small proportion of traffic, IATA categorically said.
“Instead it appears to reflect negative economic developments in parts of the continent including Nigeria, which is highly reliant on oil revenues. South Africa also experienced weakness earlier in the year,” it said.
