Marc Serafino
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced full-year global passenger traffic results for 2016, and what do you know — it’s going up like it’s nobody’s business. Demand, as in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs, rose 6.3% compared to 2015 — or 6.0% if adjusted for the leap year. This strong performance was well ahead of the ten-year average annual growth rate of 5.5%. Capacity rose 6.2% (unadjusted) compared to 2015, pushing the load factor up 0.1 percentage points to a record full-year average high of 80.5%.
December was the peak month with an 8.8% rise in demand, outstripping 6.6% capacity growth.
“Air travel was a good news story in 2016. Connectivity increased with the establishment of more than 700 new routes. And a $44 fall in average return fares helped to make air travel even more accessible. As a result, a record 3.7 billion passengers flew safely to their destination,” Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO, said in a statement. “Demand for air travel is still expanding. The challenge for governments is to work with the industry to meet that demand with infrastructure that can accommodate the growth, regulation that facilitates growth and taxes that don’t choke growth. If we can achieve that, there is plenty of potential for a safe, secure and sustainable aviation industry to create more jobs and increase prosperity.”
International passenger traffic rose 6.7% in 2016 compared to 2015. Capacity rose 6.9% and load factor fell 0.2 percentage points to 79.6%. All regions recorded year-over-year increases in demand. In particular:
- Asia Pacific carriers recorded a demand increase of 8.3% compared to 2015, which was the second-fastest increase among the regions. Capacity rose 7.7%, pushing up the load factor 0.4 percentage points to 78.6%.
- European carriers’ international traffic climbed 4.8% in 2016, while capacity rose 5.0% and — despite a decline of 0.1 percentage points to 82.8% — the load factor remains the highest among the regions.
- North American airlines saw demand rise 2.6% in 2016, while capacity rose 3.3%, reducing the load factor by 0.5 percentage points to 81.3%.
- Middle East carriers had the strongest regional annual traffic growth for the fifth year in a row. RPKs expanded 11.8%, and capacity growth of 13.7% continued to outstrip demand.
- Latin American airlines’ traffic rose 7.4% in 2016. Capacity rose 4.8% and load factor strengthened by 1.9 percentage points to 81.3%. International traffic from Latin America remains very healthy despite some economic and political uncertainty in the region’s largest market, Brazil.
- Finally, African airlines had their best growth performance since 2012, up 7.4%. Capacity exactly matched demand, with the result that the load factor remained flat at 67.7%.
When it comes to domestic air travel, it rose 5.7% in 2016. Capacity rose 5.1% and load factor was 82.2%, up 0.5 percentage points over 2015. All major markets except Brazil showed growth, but India and China, with RPK expansion of 23.3% and 11.7% respectively, were the stand-out performers. These markets have been underpinned by additional routes and increasing flight frequencies, with the latter looking set to continue in 2017.
“Our freedom to connect through air travel drives prosperity and enriches societies. That freedom can only be given its fullest expression when governments facilitate the movement of people and goods. And the four billion people who will travel by air this year are an opportunity to build an even better world through the positive impacts of globalization — mutual understanding, innovation and business opportunities among them,” de Juniac added.
