Translations:
Lente croissance du trafic passagers dûe aux congés de Pâques tardifs (pdf)
La demanda de pasajeros aéreos se ralentiza en marzo por la Pascua tardía (pdf)
Aumento da demanda de passageiros em março desacelera no feriado de Páscoa (pdf)
国际航协:3月份全球航空客运需求增速放缓 (pdf)
طلب المسافرين على الرحلات الجوية في شهر مارس يشهد تباطؤاً في النمو (pdf)
Geneva - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for March 2019 showing that demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometers, or RPKs) rose 3.1%, compared to the same month a year ago, which was the slowest pace for any month in nine years.
This largely was owing to the timing of the Easter holiday, which fell nearly a month later than in 2018. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, the underlying growth rate has been relatively steady since October 2018 at a 4.1% annualized pace. Capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) for the month of March grew 4.2% and load factor dropped 0.9 percentage point to 81.7%.
“While traffic growth slowed considerably in March, we do not see the month as a bellwether for the rest of 2019. Nevertheless, the economic backdrop has become somewhat less favorable, with the IMF having recently revised its GDP outlook downward for a fourth time in the past year,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
MARCH 2019 (% year-on-year) | World share1 | RPK | ASK | PLF (%-pt)2 | PLF (level)3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total Market | 100.0% | 3.1% | 4.2% | -0.9% | 81.7% |
Africa | 2.1% | 2.6% | 2.0% | 0.4% | 72.0% |
Asia Pacific | 34.4% | 1.9% | 3.5% | -1.3% | 81.2% |
Europe | 26.7% | 4.9% | 5.4% | -0.4% | 83.7% |
Latin America | 5.1% | 5.6% | 5.1% | 0.3% | 81.5% |
Middle East | 9.2% | -3.0% | 2.1% | -3.9% | 73.9% |
North America | 22.5% | 4.9% | 5.0% | -0.1% | 85.0% |
International Passenger Markets
March international passenger demand rose just 2.5% compared to March 2018, which was down from 4.5% year-over-year growth recorded in February and almost 5 percentage points below its five-year average pace. All regions showed growth with the exception of the Middle East. Total capacity climbed 4.0%, and load factor fell 1.2 percentage points to 80.8%.
- European carriers saw March demand increase 4.7% over March 2018, down from 7.5% annual growth in February. The result partly reflects falling business confidence in the Eurozone and ongoing uncertainty about Brexit. March capacity rose 5.4% and load factor slid 0.6 percentage point to 84.2%, which still was the highest among regions.
- Asia-Pacific airlines’ traffic climbed 2.0% in March, compared to the year-ago period, which was down from 4% growth in February. However, results were stronger on a seasonally-adjusted basis. Capacity increased 4.0%, and load factor dropped 1.6 percentage points to 80.1%.
- Middle East carriers’ passenger demand fell 3.0% in March, marking a second consecutive month of declining traffic. This reflects the broader structural changes in the industry which have been taking place in the region. Capacity increased 2.3%, and load factor plunged 4.0 percentage points to 73.8%.
- North American airlines posted a 3.0% traffic rise in March compared to the year-ago period, which was down somewhat from 4.2% year-on-year growth in February. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, traffic has been trending strongly upwards, however. Capacity climbed 2.6% and load factor edged up 0.3 percentage point to 83.7%.
- Latin American airlines had the fastest traffic growth at 5.5%, compared to a year ago, up from 4.6% in February. March capacity rose 5.8%, and load factor dipped 0.2 percentage point to 81.9%. Latin America was the only region to show an increase in the year-on-year growth rate for March compared to February. In seasonally-adjusted terms traffic continues to trend upward sharply, notwithstanding economic and political uncertainty in some key countries.
- African airlines’ demand increased 2.1% compared to March 2018, down from a 2.5% rise in February. Capacity climbed 1.1%, and load factor strengthened 0.7 percentage point to 71.4%. The upward traffic trend has softened since mid-2018 in line with falling business confidence in some of the region’s key economies.
Domestic Passenger Markets
Domestic demand rose 4.1% in March, which was a deceleration from 6.2% growth recorded in February that was driven largely by developments in China and India. Domestic capacity climbed 4.5%, and load factor dipped 0.3 percentage point to 83.4%.
March 2019 (% year-on-year) | World share1 | RPK | ASK | PLF (%-pt)2 | PLF (level)3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Domestic | 36.0% | 4.1% | 4.5% | -0.3% | 83.4% |
Dom. Australia | 0.9% | -3.2% | -2.1% | -0.9% | 79.3% |
Domestic Brazil | 1.1% | 3.2% | 2.1% | 0.9% | 80.9% |
Dom. China P.R. | 9.5% | 2.9% | 4.4% | -1.2% | 84.2% |
Domestic India | 1.6% | 3.1% | 4.7% | -1.4% | 86.6% |
Domestic Japan | 1.0% | 4.2% | 3.6% | 0.4% | 74.5% |
Dom. Russian Fed. | 1.4% | 14.2% | 11.1% | 2.2% | 80.5% |
Domestic US | 14.1% | 6.3% | 6.9% | -0.5% | 85.8% |
- India’s domestic traffic rose just 3.1% in March, down from February’s growth of 8.3% and well-off the torrid five-year average growth pace of close to 20% per month. The slowdown largely reflects the reduction in flight operations of Jet Airways—which stopped flying in April—as well as disruptions at Mumbai airport owing to construction.
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Australia’s domestic traffic fell 3.2% in March, marking the fifth consecutive month of contracting demand.
The Bottom Line
“Despite March’s slowdown, the outlook for air travel remains solid. Global connectivity has never been better. Consumers can choose from more than 21,000 city pair combinations on more than 125,000 daily flights. And air fares continue to decline in real terms.
Aviation is truly the Business Freedom for the more than 12.5 million passengers who will board flights each day. But it also remains extremely challenging, as the recent failures of Jet Airways and WOW Air illustrate. Airlines compete intensely with one another, but they also cooperate in areas such as safety, security, infrastructure and the environment, to ensure that aviation can accommodate a forecast doubling in demand by 2037. Next month, leaders of the industry will gather in Seoul for the 75th IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit where all of these items will be high on the agenda.”
Read the full March Passenger Traffic Analysis (pdf)
For more information, please contact:
Corporate Communications
Tel: +41 22 770 2967
Email:
corpcomms@iata.org
Notes for Editors:
- IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents some 290 airlines comprising 82% of global air traffic.
- You can follow us at twitter.com/iata for announcements, policy positions, and other useful industry information.
- All figures are provisional and represent total reporting at time of publication plus estimates for missing data. Historic figures are subject to revision.
- Domestic RPKs accounted for about 36% of the total market. It is most important for North American airlines as it is about 66% of their operations. In Latin America, domestic travel accounts for 46% of operations, primarily owing to the large Brazilian market. For Asia-Pacific carriers, the large markets in India, China and Japan mean that domestic travel accounts for 45% of the region’s operations. It is less important for Europe and most of Africa where domestic travel represents just 11% and 14% of operations, respectively. And it is negligible for Middle Eastern carriers for whom domestic travel represents just 4% of operations.
- Explanation of measurement terms:
- RPK: Revenue Passenger Kilometers measures actual passenger traffic
- ASK: Available Seat Kilometers measures available passenger capacity
- PLF: Passenger Load Factor is % of ASKs used.
- IATA statistics cover international and domestic scheduled air traffic for IATA member and non-member airlines.
- Total passenger traffic market shares by region of carriers in terms of RPK are: Asia-Pacific 34.4%, Europe 26.7%, North America 22.5%, Middle East 9.2%, Latin America 5.1%, and Africa 2.1%.