Global air passenger traffic continues to recover
Geneva News (Reporter Yang Haiquan) On May 5, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) released a report on the global air passenger market data for March 2022, showing that global air travel continues to recover, and the impact of the Ukraine crisis on air travel demand is generally comparable. Limited, the associated impact of the Omicron variant remains largely confined to the Asian domestic market.
IATA reported that total air passenger demand in terms of revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) grew by 76.0% year-on-year in March, although it was lower than February's 115.9% year-on-year growth rate, but March passenger traffic was the closest to 2019 demand levels .
Passenger traffic in the global domestic market increased by 11.7% year-on-year in March this year, lower than the 59.4% year-on-year growth rate in February, which shows that the epidemic prevention and control measures in some Asian countries continue to have an impact on air travel.
Compared with March 2019, passenger demand in the global domestic market fell by 23.2% in March this year.
However, compared with March 2021, passenger demand in the international market increased by 285.3% year-on-year, exceeding the year-on-year growth rate of 259.2% in February.
Compared with February, the performance of airlines in most regions of the world improved, with European airlines leading the way.
In March of this year, passenger traffic in the international market fell by 51.9% compared with the same period in 2019.
IATA director general Willie Walsh said long-pent-up demand had surged as travel barriers lifted in most parts of the world.
Regrettably, the lengthy delays at many airports and insufficient resources to handle the growing number of flights must be addressed as soon as possible to avoid dampening consumer confidence in air travel.
Yang Haiquan