The International Air Transport Association (IATA) recorded "strong demand growth in air travel" in March 2023, with global traffic up over 52% year-on-year among the more than 300 airlines it counts as members.
Traffic, if measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) hit 88% of March 2019 levels, the Geneva-based IATA, whose carriers account for around 83% of passengers flown worldwide.
Domestic traffic for March rose 34.1% and hit 98.9% of the March 2019, the IATA said, while international traffic climbed 68.9%.
All markets recorded "healthy growth", the IATA said, with the rebound "led once again by carriers in the Asia-Pacific region".
International RPKs reached 81.6% of March 2019 levels while the load factor at 81.3% exceeded the March 2019 level by 10.1 percentage points, the IATA added.
The Asia-Pacific airlines on IATA's books recorded a 283.1% increase in March 2023, a reflection of the relatively-recent lifting of travel restrictions in that part of the world. Capacity rose 161.5% and the load factor increased 26.8 percentage points to 84.5%, the second highest among the regions, the IATA said,
European carriers posted a 38.5% traffic rise, as capacity was increased by 27% for a load factor rise of 6.6 percentage points to 79.4%, the second lowest recorded for the month.
Middle Eastern airlines saw a 43.1% traffic increase. "Capacity climbed 30.5% and load factor pushed up 7.0 percentage points to 79.4%", the IATA said,
North American traffic jumped 51.6%, capacity increased 34%, and the load factor saw 9.8 percentage point lift to 84.8%, the highest reported.
Latin American airlines had a 36.5% traffic increase, a capacity increase of 33.4%, and a load factor rise of 1.9 percentage points to 82.8%.
African airlines’ traffic rose 71.7%, rhe second highest, as March capacity was up 56.2% and the load factor upped by 6.5 percentage points to 72.2%, lowest among the regions.
Among some of the major markets, Brazil’s domestic traffic rose 8% in March to "just fractionally" below what was recorded in 2019. China saw growth of over 165%, the IATA said, with India and Japan hitting 20% and 60% respectively. IATA-affiliated carriers in the US reported over 4% growth y/y.
“The calendar year first quarter ended on a strong note for air travel demand. Domestic markets have been near their pre-pandemic levels for months. And for international travel two key waypoints were topped. First, demand increased by 3.5 percentage points compared to the previous month’s growth, to reach 81.6% of pre-COVID levels," said Willie Walsh, the IATA’s director general, who cited China's late-2022 lifting of its Covid curbs as key to the rise.
Citing a "capacity shortfall," Irishman Walsh , a former chief executive of International Airlines Group (IAG), warned of potential disappointments for travellers ahead of the peak summer seasons in Europe and North America.
The problem, he said, was "attributable to the widely reported labour shortages impacting many parts of the aviation value chain, as well as supply chain issues affecting the aircraft manufacturing sector that is resulting in aircraft delivery delays"
Echoing compatriot Michael O'Leary, the Ryanair chief, Walsh added that "a significant share of recent flight cancellations, primarily in Europe, are owing to job actions by air traffic controllers and others."
"These irresponsible actions resulted in thousands of unnecessary cancellations in March. This is unacceptable and should not be tolerated by the authorities,” Walsh said.