Geneva – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced continued strong growth in air travel demand, based on February 2023 traffic results.
Total traffic in February 2023 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose 55.5% compared to February 2022. Globally, traffic is now at 84.9% of February 2019 levels.
Domestic traffic for February rose 25.2% compared to the year-ago period. Total February 2023 domestic traffic was at 97.2% of the February 2019 level.
International traffic climbed 89.7% versus February 2022 with all markets recording strong growth, led once again by carriers in the Asia-Pacific region. International RPKs reached 77.5% of February 2019 levels.
“Despite the uncertain economic signals, demand for air travel continues to be strong across the globe and particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The industry is now just about 15% below 2019 levels of demand and that gap is narrowing each month,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
Air passenger market in detail
February 2023 (% YEAR-ON-YEAR) | WORLD SHARE1 | RPK | ASK | PLF(%-PT)2 | PLF(LEVEL)3 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1) % of industry RPKs in 2022 2) Year-on-year change in load factor 3) Load Factor Level
International Passenger Markets
Asia-Pacific airlines had a 378.7% increase in February 2023 traffic compared to February 2022, maintaining the very positive momentum of the past few months since the lifting of travel restrictions in the region. Capacity rose 176.4% and the load factor increased 34.9 percentage points to 82.5%, the second highest among the regions.
European carriers posted a 47.9% traffic rise versus February 2022. Capacity climbed 29.7%, and load factor rose 9.1 percentage points to 73.7%, which was the lowest among the regions.
Middle Eastern airlines saw a 75.0% traffic increase compared to February a year…