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

Updated Graph (back to 2007)

Sydney - "The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced international scheduled traffic statistics for July which showed continued strengthening of demand for both passenger and cargo traffic. Compared to July 2009, international passenger demand was up 9.2% while international scheduled freight traffic showed a 22.7% improvement (see chart above).

These year-on-year comparisons for July were less than the June growth data showing 11.6% and 26.6% increases for passenger and cargo traffic, respectively. The apparent slowdown was entirely due to the fact that by July 2009 traffic was already starting to recover. After adjusting for seasonality, the improvement in demand was faster month-to-month in July than it was in June."

Other highlights include:

1. July global passenger traffic was 3% higher than the pre-crisis levels of early 2008.

2. July global cargo demand was 4% higher than pre-crisis levels in early 2008.

3. Year-to-date global freight volume is 27.5% higher than 2009. 

4. During the second half of 2009, demand was rebounding at an annualized rate of 12% for passenger and 28% for cargo. In the year to July, the annualized growth rates had dropped to 8% for passenger and 17% for air freight. However, this is still considerably above the industry’s traditional 6% growth trend.

MP: International air travel (passenger and freight volumes) are both above the pre-crisis levels in early 2008, and the annualized growth rates (8% for passengers and 17% for freight) of 6%.