Passenger demand as of October 2023 has continued to recover, highlights the International Air Transport Association (IATA), with total traffic for the month (measured in revenue passenger kilometres) rising 31.2% compared to October 2022. Additionally, global traffic now stands at 98.2% of pre-Covid levels.
Domestic traffic for October 2023 rose 33.7%, dominated by a rise in 252.6% Chinese RPK (with a load factor up 14.7%) compared to the same period last year. Domestic Brazilian and Indian markets also saw a rise in RPK of 10.0% and 8.9% respectively. Overall, domestic markets remain above pre-Covid levels.
Although international recovery remains comparatively slower, traffic climbed 29.7% compared to October 2022, with all markets experiencing double-digit percentage gains year-on-year. Asia-Pacific airlines saw a 80.3% increase in traffic, also experiencing the highest increase in capacity (up by 72.5%). Although Latin American airlines’ load factor reduced by 0.8 percentage points to 85.3%, it still remained the highest among the regions. African airlines’ load factor of 70.3% marked the lowest among the regions, despite a yearly traffic increase of 25.3%.
Although Asia Pacific carriers’ international demand is 19.5% behind 2019, “this could reflect the late lifting of Covid restrictions in the region as well as commercial developments and political tensions,” highlighted Willie Walsh, IATA director general, concluding that overall, “October’s strong result brings the industry ever closer to completing the post-pandemic traffic recovery”.