Strong growth in air travel; now at 85% of 2019
GENEVA, April 4, 2023
Air travel continued strong growth in February 2023 with traffic reaching 84.9% of February 2019 levels, according to data released by International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Total traffic in February 2023 (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) rose 55.5% compared to February 2022.
Middle Eastern airlines saw a 75% traffic increase compared to February 2022. Capacity climbed 40.5% and load factor pushed up 15.8 percentage points to 80%, IATA said.
Global domestic traffic for February rose 25.2% compared to the year-ago period. Total February 2023 domestic traffic was at 97.2% of the February 2019 level.
International traffic climbed 89.7% versus February 2022 with all markets recording strong growth, led once again by carriers in the Asia-Pacific region. International RPKs reached 77.5% of February 2019 levels.
“Despite the uncertain economic signals, demand for air travel continues to be strong across the globe and particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The industry is now just about 15% below 2019 levels of demand and that gap is narrowing each month,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
International passenger markets
• Asia-Pacific airlines had a 378.7% increase in February 2023 traffic compared to February 2022, maintaining the very positive momentum of the past few months since the lifting of travel restrictions in the region. Capacity rose 176.4% and the load factor increased 34.9 percentage points to 82.5%, the second highest among the regions.
• European carriers posted a 47.9% traffic rise versus February 2022. Capacity climbed 29.7%, and load factor rose 9.1 percentage points to 73.7%, which was the lowest among the regions.
• North American carriers’ traffic climbed 67.4% in February 2023 versus the 2022 period. Capacity increased 39.5%, and load factor rose 12.8 percentage points to 76.6%.
• Latin American airlines had a 44.1% traffic increase compared to the same month in 2022. February capacity climbed 34.0% and load factor rose 5.8 percentage points to 82.7%, the highest among the regions.
• African airlines’ traffic rose 90.7% in February 2023 versus a year ago. February capacity was up 61.7% and load factor climbed 11.4 percentage points to 75.0%.
Domestic Passenger Markets
• Japan’s domestic traffic surged 161.4% in February compared to a year ago and now stands at 89.9% of pre-pandemic levels.
• US airlines’ domestic demand rose 10.6% in February and was 0.7% ahead of February 2019 levels.
