October's air passenger performance marks strong bounce-back after weather-impacted September
December 4, 2017: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for October showing that demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometers, or RPKs) rose 7.2 percent compared to the same month last year.
Global FTKs grow by 8.8% y-o-y
December 4, 2017: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global passenger traffic results for October showing that demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometres, or RPKs) rose 7.2 percent compared to the same month last year. Capacity grew 6.2 percent and load factor climbed 0.8 percentage points to 80.8 percent, which was a record for the month.
October’s performance was a strong bounce-back after the hurricane-related disruptions in September. Domestic and international travel growth largely was in balance.
"As expected, the recent severe weather in the Americas region had only a temporary impact on the healthy travel demand we have seen this year, and we remain on course for another year of above-trend growth," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
October international passenger demand rose 7.3 percent compared to October 2016, which was an improvement compared to the 6.6 percent demand increase for September. Airlines in all regions recorded growth. Total capacity climbed 6.0 percent, and load factor increased 1.0 percentage point to 79.4 percent.
Asia-Pacific airlines led all regions with traffic growth of 10.3 percent compared to the year-ago period, which was up from an 8.7 percent rise in September. Capacity climbed 8.4 percent and load factor rose 1.3 percentage points to 78.0 percent. Seasonally-adjusted passenger volumes are rising at an annualized rate of 8-9 percent, supported by the solid regional economic backdrop and strong growth in the number of connections.
October 2017 | World share¹ | RPK | ASK | PLF | PLF |
Total Market | 100.0% | 7.2% | 6.2% | 0.8% | 80.8% |
Africa | 2.2% | 5.7% | 2.2% | 2.4% | 71.9% |
Asia Pacific | 32.9% | 10.1% | 8.9% | 0.8% | 80.2% |
Europe | 26.4% | 6.3% | 4.5% | 1.4% | 84.3% |
Latin America | 5.2% | 6.7% | 4.9% | 1.4% | 82.5% |
Middle East | 9.6% | 6.8% | 5.4% | 0.9% | 69.4% |
North America | 23.8% | 4.8% | 5.3% | -0.4% | 83.3% |
¹% of industry RPKs in 2016 ²Year-on-year change in load factor ³Load factor level
Domestic Passenger Markets
Domestic demand climbed 7.2 percent in October compared to October 2016, while capacity rose 6.6 percent. India and China continued to lead all markets, with double-digit growth rates.
October 2017 | World share¹ | RPK | ASK | PLF | PLF |
Domestic | 36.4% | 7.2% | 6.6% | 0.4% | 83.4% |
Australia | 1.0% | 2.8% | 1.4% | 1.1% | 79.8% |
Brazil | 1.2% | 7.7% | 2.7% | 3.9% | 83.2% |
China P.R | 8.7% | 10.0% | 11.0% | -0.8% | 84.3% |
India | 1.3% | 20.4% | 15.5% | 3.4% | 84.9% |
Japan | 1.1% | 2.3% | -0.8% | 2.3% | 76.1% |
Russian Fed. | 1.3% | 6.1% | 2.3% | 2.9% | 80.2% |
US | 15.0% | 5.3% | 5.4% | -0.1% | 85.6% |
¹% of industry RPKs in 2016 ²Year-on-year change in load factor ³Load factor level *Note: the seven domestic passenger markets for which broken-down data are available account for 30% of global total RPKs and approximately 82% of total domestic RPKs
