Global Air Traffic Nears Pre-Pandemic Levels at 98.2%: IATA
IATA reports passenger demand recovery continues on track in October 2023.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported a continued recovery in passenger demand in October 2023, bringing the industry closer to completing the post-pandemic traffic recovery.
Total traffic in October 2023 (in RPKs) rose 31.2% compared to October 2022, bringing global air traffic to 98.2% of pre-COVID levels.
Domestic traffic for October rose 33.7% versus October 2022, driven by the triple-digit percentage growth recorded in China, and was 4.8% above the October 2019 results.
International traffic climbed 29.7% compared to the same month a year ago, reaching 94.4% of October 2019 levels.
“People assign a high value to the freedom to travel. The strong demand we’ve seen all year confirms that. And aviation is committed to ensuring that people can continue to enjoy this freedom.” .
Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General
International Passenger Markets – MEA Regions
Middle Eastern airlines posted a 24.1% rise in October 2023 traffic compared to a year ago. Despite reduced airline operations to/from Israel due to the Israel-Hamas war, there was little impact at the regional and global levels.
African airlines saw a 25.3% traffic increase in October 2023 versus a year ago. However, with October capacity up by 32.4%, the load factor declined 4.0 percentage points to 70.3%, the lowest among the regions.
