International Air Travel Shows Continuing Strength in June; Volumes are Above Pre-Recession Levels

Geneva - "The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced today that international scheduled traffic statistics for June showed continued strong demand growth as the industry recovers from the impact of the global financial crisis. Compared to June 2009, international passenger demand was up 11.9% while international scheduled freight traffic showed a 26.5% improvement (see chart above)."  Other highlights include:

1. Passenger volumes are now 1-2% above the pre-recession peak in the first quarter of 2008.

2. Freight volumes remain 6% above the pre-recession peak in early 2008.

3. “The industry continues to recover faster than expected, but with sharp regional differences. Europe is recovering at half the speed of Asia with passenger growth of 7.8% compared to the 15.5% growth in Asia-Pacific,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO. 

Outside of Europe, all regions reported double-digit growth in passenger traffic. “The question is how long can the industry maintain the double-digit momentum. Business confidence remains high and there is no indication that the recovery will stall any time soon. But, with government stimulus packages tailing off and restocking largely completed, we do expect some slowing over the months ahead,” said Bisignani.

MP: For both May and June, passenger and freight traffic have reached volumes that are above the pre-recession levels.  It's also interesting that the strongest improvements in both passenger and freight growth have been in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, while growth in North America and Europe have lagged behind.   But it's good news that international air travel has rebounded strongly, and passenger travel and freight volumes are now both above their pre-recession peaks.