The international travel experienced a robust demand increase of 10.6%, accompanied by a 10.1% rise in capacity. Meanwhile, domestic demand rose by 5.6%, although capacity only increased by 1.2%.
In August 2024, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported a significant rise in global passenger demand, with total revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) increasing by 8.6% compared to August 2023. Capacity also grew, measured in available seat kilometers (ASK), by 6.5% year-on-year, resulting in a record high load factor of 86.2%, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous year.
The international travel saw a robust demand increase of 10.6%, with capacity rising by 10.1% and a load factor of 85.7%, marking a slight improvement of 0.4 percentage points.
Meanwhile, domestic demand increased by 5.6%, although capacity only rose by 1.2%, leading to a higher load factor of 86.9%, which reflects a notable 3.6 percentage point increase compared to August 2023.
In August 2024, all regions experienced growth in international passenger markets compared to the same month in 2023, supported by a 6.6% year-on-year increase in ticket sales from May to July for travel in August and September, suggesting strong future growth.
The Asia-Pacific airlines led the way with a remarkable 19.9% increase in demand, accompanied by an 18.8% rise in capacity, resulting in a load factor of 85.2%, up 0.8 percentage points. This region is now just 8 percentage points shy of returning to pre-pandemic levels.
The European carriers reported a 9.1% increase in demand and an 8.5% rise in capacity, with a load factor of 87.2%, reflecting a 0.5 percentage point improvement. The Europe-Asia route emerged as the fastest-growing, although it remains below 2019 levels.
Subsequently, the Middle Eastern airlines saw a 4.9% increase in demand and a 5.6% rise in capacity, but their load factor dipped to 82.5%, down 0.6 percentage points.
Furthermore, the North American carriers posted a 4.3% increase in demand and a 3.8% rise in capacity, achieving the highest load factor among regions at 88.2%, up 0.4 percentage points.
Lastly, the Latin American airlines experienced a 13.6% increase in demand and a 15.2% rise in capacity, although their load factor fell to 85.1%, down 1.2 percentage points. Finally, African airlines reported a 10.1% increase in demand, with capacity up 7.3% and a load factor rising to 77.8%, an increase of 2.0 percentage points from August 2023.
Notably, the domestic demand increased in August, with growth in all key markets, especially China. Domestic ticket sales for August-September grew 4.3% year-on-year, underpinning solid growth prospects for the rest of the year.
“The market for air travel is hot and airlines are doing a great job at meeting the growing demand for travel. Efficiency gains have driven load factors to record highs while the 6.5% capacity increase demonstrates resilience in the face of persistent supply chain issues and infrastructure deficiencies,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
“Looking ahead, the continued strong demand growth signals that we could be fast approaching an infrastructure capacity crunch that would restrict connectivity and choice for passengers and businesses. If governments want to maximize the benefits of aviation, they must take bold decisions to ensure sufficient infrastructure capacity. And, in the interim, both airports and air navigation service providers need to do more with the resources they currently have. In particular, the variance in declared capacity of airports with broadly the same infrastructure needs to be resolved, with airports emulating the best performers. The industry cannot afford to under-utilize the airport infrastructure that we have,” added Walsh.
