News
Passenger demand slowed 3.4 per cent in July: IATA

The group, which represents some 240 major airlines, said Thursday that the year-over-year increase of 3.4 per cent in July
compared with June's 6.3 per cent increase.

Airlines have responded by adding capacity that has been largely in line with the traffic growth in order to keep planes 83.1 per
cent full.

Passenger demand in the first half of the year grew by six per cent from 2011, outpacing a 4.5 per cent increase in capacity, IATA said.

IATA director general, Tony Tyler, said economic uncertainty is having a negative impact on demand for air transportation, with
passenger demand falling in all markets aside from Africa, domestic China and the Middle East.

Freight demand decreased 3.2 per cent from strong growth last July.

International passenger demand grew by 3.5 per cent in July while domestic demand grew by 3.1 per cent. China and Brazil both recorded strong domestic growth, offset by weakness in India and Japan.

U.S. domestic traffic slipped 0.4 per cent in July while capacity rose by 0.2 per cent.

Tyler said the slowing passenger growth and rising fuel prices will likely make the second half of the year tough for international airlines.

North American international traffic fell 2.1 per cent in July after rising 1.6 per cent in June. The decrease was largely due to
reduced capacity, which kept the load factor at 86.7 per cent, the highest among all regions of the world.

European carriers recorded 4.8 per cent growth in July on international flights, down from 7.3 per cent in June, with an
average load factor of 85.7 per cent.

Asia-Pacific carriers saw demand grow by 0.9 per cent, compared with 5.8 per cent in June.

Middle East carriers experienced the strongest traffic growth at 11.2 per cent, while Latin American airlines reported growth of 5.7 per cent and African traffic climbed 5.2 per cent.