The passenger travel on international markets was up 4.5 per cent in October year-on-year, overall, according to the International  Air Transport Association (Iata).

 

For economy class travel, passenger numbers were up 4.6 per cent, which was due to weakness in the year-ago period, rather than growth over the last month. 

 

Premium travel, by contrast, was supported by growth in volumes in October compared to September, rising 3.9 per cent year-on-year.

 

At the route-level, during more recent months, growth has been supported within Europe market, which includes segment traffic as part of longer-haul journeys. 

 

Meanwhile, the outlook for international passenger growth remains mixed because the growth over recent months has been narrowly based, and supported mostly by within Europe and North Atlantic markets.

 

The increases in economy class air travel volumes have been supported by the fall in oil prices, which has led to lower fares. Economy class leisure travel is more price sensitive than business-related premium class travel. 

 

Premium passenger numbers have been growing but at a relatively slower pace due to overall weakness in business travel demand drivers.

 

At the start of the year, the association saw the negative impacts of earlier economic developments. World trade and industrial production accelerated during parts of last year, but that trend failed to continue through to the end of the year – the lagged impact of that weakness in late 2014 was apparent in the sluggish growth trend for premium travel at the start of 2015. 

 

Meanwhile, premium class travel was up 3.9 per cent in October year-on-year, an improvement on the 2.9 per cent result in September. 

 

Air travel on markets connected to the Middle East continued to show mixed results. International air travel growth on Europe-Middle East was up 5.4 per cent in October. 

 

In contrast, Africa – Middle East and Middle East – Far East were relatively weaker, +0.8 per cent and -1.2 per cent, respectively. This is likely due to adverse economic and political developments in Asia and Africa rather than any major downturn in the Middle East. 

 

After a decline in the first half of the year, Q3 data from purchasing managers (Markit) pointed to further gains in business conditions across the non-oil producing private sectors of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and this should help sustain solid expansion in air passenger demand for local carriers.

 

The overall growth in international air travel has been hampered by weakness in Asia. The Within Far East market was among the weakest performers in October, up just 0.9 per cent year-on-year. This is consistent with economic weakness in some key Asian markets and sluggish trade to/from the region. 

 

In China, a slump in exports this year has weakened manufacturing activity, and placed downward pressure on business-related premium travel within the Far East as well as markets connected to the region. - TradeArabia News Service