IATA: 2011 Ends on a Positive Note

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that full year 2011 passenger demand rose 5.9% compared to 2010, in line with long-term growth trends. In contrast, cargo markets contracted by 0.7% for the year; but recorded positive demand growth in December of 0.2%. Growth in demand lagged capacity increases at 6.3% (passenger) and 4.1% (cargo) putting downward pressure on load factors. The average passenger load factor for 2011 was 78.1%, down from 78.3% in 2010, while the freight load factor was just 45.9%, down from 48.1% in 2010.

International Passenger Markets

International air travel rose 6.9% last year, though the majority of this growth occurred in the first half of the year. International capacity climbed 8.2%, pushing the passenger load factor down to 77.4%. For December, international traffic climbed 6.4% year over year, in part owing to depressed traffic levels in 2010 in North American and Europe, and rose 1.4% compared to November.

•    European carriers posted the second highest growth rates, behind Latin American carriers. Demand rose 9.5% last year while capacity climbed 10.2%, resulting in a load factor of 78.9%. December traffic rose 9.8% but this was surpassed by a 10.3% rise in capacity. Europe’s strong performance is somewhat surprising in light of the European sovereign debt crisis; however European airlines have benefited from robust business travel on long-haul markets, in part related to strong exports from Northern Europe.
•    North American carriers had the industry’s highest load factors for both the year—80.7%, and the month of December, 80.5%. These figures demonstrate tight capacity management, as the industry coped with demand increases of just 1% for December and 4% for the year. Nevertheless, capacity still expanded a little faster than demand, with increases of 1.4% in December and 6% for the year, so load factors were not quite as high as in 2010.
•    Latin American airlines led the industry in traffic growth in 2011 with a 10.2% rise in demand compared to 2010. This also was the only region in which demand growth outstripped capacity growth for the full year, with capacity up 9.2%. However, December’s strong traffic growth of 8.8% was exceeded by an 11.1% rise in capacity. Latin America air traffic is supported by healthy domestic economic conditions and trade activity with North America and Asia.


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