International air travel slows 2.4% in April

MANILA, Philippines - International air passenger demand fell 2.4 percent in April 2010 compared to the same period last year due to massive flight cancellations in Europe following the eruptions of an Icelandic volcano, interrupting the industry’s recovery from the global financial crisis.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) also said that scheduled cargo traffic, less impacted by the cancellations, saw the pace of its recovery slow to 25.2 percent in April, down from the 28.1 percent improvement recorded in March.

IATA represents some 230 airlines, including those from the Philippines, comprising 93 percent of scheduled international air traffic.

The Asia-Pacific region accounts for 28.6 percent of international passenger traffic market shares as measured by revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) and 46 percent of freight traffic market shares in terms of by region freight ton kilometers (FTK).

In terms of international passenger demand, Asia-Pacific carriers saw their strong growth slow to 3.5 percent, from the 12.9 percent growth recorded in March. Robust GDP growth of seven percent (Asia excluding Japan) is supporting the strong recovery.

Meanwhile, carriers from the region recorded a growth of 33.2 percent, slightly below the 35.4 percent registered in March.

The scale of the ash crisis saw global load factors drop to 76.9 percent from the 78 percent recorded in March. Freight load factors also dipped to 55.3 percent from the 57.1 percent recorded in the previous month. While March traffic was within one percent of pre-crisis levels for both passenger and cargo, this slipped to seven percent for passenger and three percent for cargo in April.

IATA meanwhile noted that airfreight was also impacted by the ash crisis, although less dramatically than passenger traffic. The global purchasing managers’ index rose to its second highest level ever in April, indicating that the fundamentals of the airfreight business were not impacted by the crisis. “We are, however, nearing the end of the inventory cycle and would expect freight growth to slow down over the rest of the year,” it said.

“The ash crisis knocked back the global recovery, impacting carriers in all regions. Last month, we were within one percent of pre-crisis traffic levels in 2008. In April, that was pushed back to seven percent. While there is always a danger of the consequences of renewed volcanic eruptions, the impact on passenger confidence should be limited. Unfortunately, we are trading ash for two additional uncertainties - strikes and a growing currency crisis - both of which are also focused on Europe,” IATA director general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said.