The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released its latest analysis of its global passenger data for June 2022 which shows that the recovery in air travel across all regions remains strong.
African airlines had a 103.6% rise in June RPKs versus a year ago. June 2022 capacity was up 61.9% and load factor climbed 15.2 percentage points to 74.2%, the lowest among regions.
Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA, said “Demand for air travel remains strong. After two years of lockdowns and border restrictions people are taking advantage of the freedom to travel wherever they can,”
The association, representing 290 airlines, however, noted that it has returned to year-on-year traffic comparisons, instead of comparisons with the 2019 period, unless otherwise noted.
Owing to the low traffic base in 2021, some markets will show very high year-on-year growth rates, even if the size of these markets is still significantly smaller than they were in 2019, it said.
According to the report, total traffic in June 2022 (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) was up 76.2% compared to June 2021, primarily propelled by the ongoing strong recovery in international traffic. Globally, traffic is now at 70.8% of pre-crisis levels.
Domestic traffic for June 2022 was up 5.2% compared to the year-ago period. Strong improvements in most markets, combined with the easing of some Omicron-related lockdown restrictions in the Chinese domestic market, contributed to the result. Total June 2022 domestic traffic was at 81.4% of the June 2019 level.
International traffic rose 229.5% versus June 2021. The lifting of travel restrictions in most parts of Asia-Pacific is contributing to the recovery. June 2022 international RPKs reached 65.0% of June 2019 levels.
International Markets like Asia-Pacific airlines, European carriers, Middle Eastern airlines, North American carriers, and Latin American airlines also recorded a remarkable growth in passenger traffic.