Airlines in the Middle East reported the strongest growth in passenger demand in March compared with any other region in the world.
Demand grew 12 per cent in March, the International Air Transport Association, said yesterday. However, load factor, a measure of filled seats compared to available seats, dropped 1.1 percentage points to 76.5 per cent. Globally, passenger traffic for March rose 5.3 per cent, compared to the same month last year. However, March performance shows growth slowing down moderately compared with year-on-year growth rates recorded in January (7.2 per cent) and February (8.6 per cent) even after adjusting for the leap-year impact in February, Iata said.
“It is premature to say whether this marks the end of the recent very strong results,” said Tony Tyler, Iata’s director general and chief executive. “We do expect further stimulus in the form of network expansion and declines in travel costs. However, the wider economic backdrop remains subdued.”
Meanwhile, cargo volumes are showing a slowdown for Middle Eastern carriers. The region’s airlines reported a 2.4 per cent rise in demand over March last year – marking the slowest increase since July 2009. “This reflects both a slowdown in network expansion by the region’s main carriers over the past six months and weak trading conditions,” said Iata.
Global air freight markets for March showed a 2 per cent decrease in volumes compared to the same period last year. “The weak results reflect subdued growth in world trade, exaggerated by the comparison to a particularly strong start to 2015 when air freight volumes were up,” said Iata.
The World Trade Organization said last month that world trade growth is expected to remain sluggish this year at 2.8 per cent, unchanged from 2015. Imports of developed countries should moderate this year, while demand for imported goods in developing Asian economies should pick up.
Going into 2017, the WTO anticipates trade growth to rise to 3.6 per cent.
selgazzar@thenational.ae
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