ME air passenger traffic shows strongest growth for 2013

|By TAP Staff| [easy_wiki]Middle East[/easy_wiki] airlines recorded the strongest increase in passenger traffic in 2013,a rise of 12.1% compared to 2012, but below the 15.4% growth recorded in 2012 compared to 2011, according to IATA full-year traffic results for 2013. Carriers in the region have benefitted from the continued 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. However, capacity grew faster at 12.8% and load factor declined slightly by 0.1 percentage points to 77.3% from 77.4% in 2012. Demand in international markets (5.4%) expanded at a slightly faster rate than domestic travel (4.9%). Strongest overall growth (domestic and international combined) was recorded by carriers in the Middle East (11.4%) followed by Asia-Pacific (7.1%), Latin America (6.3%) and Africa (5.2%). The slowest growth was in the developed markets of North America (2.3%) and Europe (3.8%). “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% it is also clear that airlines are continuing to drive efficiencies to an ever-higher level,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO. European carriers saw traffic rise 3.8% in 2013 compared to 2012, a slowdown compared to annual growth of 5.3% in 2012. Capacity rose 2.8% and load factor was 81%, 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 stabilized in December. Asia-Pacific airlines’ traffic rose 5.3% in 2013, the highest increase among the three major regions and slightly above 2012 annual growth of 5.2%. 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 [easy_wiki]Japan[/easy_wiki]. Capacity expansion of 5.2% meant load factor was virtually flat at 77.7%. Domestic air travel demand rose grew by 4.9% in 2013 compared to 2012, up from 4.0% in 2012 versus 2011. Capacity rose 4.6% and load factor climbed 0.4 percentage points to 79.9%. All markets recorded positive gains, with the strongest growth occurring in China and Russia. Indian domestic traffic rose 4.0% last year, compared to a 2.1% decline in 2012. The demand environment has been challenging in view of the weakening economy, high inflation and slowing manufacturing and resource industries. Capacity climbed 3.5% in 2013, and load factor was 74.6%, up 1.7 percentage points compared to 2012.