Middle East carriers post 18% growth Issac John / 6 March 2014 Capacity climbs 15% in January, load factor jumps 2.2 percentage points to 81.1% Middle East carriers recorded the world’s strongest passenger traffic growth in January on account of robust regional economies and solid increases in business related premium travel, the International Air Transport Association, or Iata, said on Wednesday. Passenger demand in the Middle East climbed 18.1 per cent far surpassing the global average growth of eight per cent. Capacity climbed 15 per cent in January versus the same month in 2013 and load factor climbed 2.2 percentage points to 81.1 per cent, also the highest for any region. “The Middle East carriers are benefitting from the strength of regional economies and solid growth in business-related premium travel, supported by the performance of internationally trading industries and key economies such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE,” the Montreal based organisation said. Globally, total revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), including domestic and international sectors, rose eight per cent compared to January 2013, an improvement over the December 2013 growth of 6.8 per cent and the full year 2013 growth of 5.2 per cent. January capacity increased 6.7 per cent, pushing load factor up 0.9 percentage points to 78.1 per cent. Tony Tyler, Iata director general and CEO, said 2014 is off to a strong start, with travel demand accelerating over the healthy results achieved in 2013, in line with stronger growth in advanced economies and emerging market regions. In January, international passenger demand was up 7.8 per cent compared to the year-ago period with airlines in all regions recording growth and the strongest gains in the Middle East. Capacity rose 6.8 per cent and load factor climbed 0.7 percentage points to 78.3 per cent. Middle Eastern carriers also recorded the highest increase of 10.7 per cent in volume of air freight carried in January as globally air freight market grew 4.5 per cent. Passenger traffic of Asia-Pacific carriers rose eight per cent in the first month as European carriers saw demand climb 6.4 per cent on the back of modest economic improvements in the eurozone. North American airlines experienced a 3.5 per cent rise in traffic compared to January a year ago, in line with recent performance. Latin American airlines’ traffic rose 4.4 per cent while African airlines recorded 2.7 per cent surge. In December, the airlines lobby group raised its forecast for airline profits for 2013 by 10 per cent and predicted passenger numbers topping three billion for the first time, and increasing to 3.3 billion in 2014 and 3.91 billion by 2017. Iata estimated total airline profits to reach $12.9 billion in 2013. It projected that the Middle East carriers would further increase their profits to $2.4 billion in 2014. The lobby group expects the UAE to add 29.2 million passengers over the next four years at a compound annual growth rate of 6.6 per cent as the Middle East records the strongest international passenger growth with a 6.3 per cent CAGR.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 07:22:45 +0000
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