Geneva: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released traffic results for November 2007. It says that international passenger demand rose 9.3% year-on-year, which is the highest rate recorded in 18 months. The Asia-Pacific region once again stole the lead over other regions, with growth of 8.8%.

Significantly, the report said that so far there was no indication of a weakening in demand because of economic uncertainty.

Passenger Traffic
The report says that year-on-year international passenger demand rose 9.3% in November, which is the fastest growth rate recorded in 18 months. This is higher than the 7.7% growth recorded in October and the 7.5% growth recorded over the first 11 months of 2007.

Average international passenger load factors were 75.4% in November, 1.1 percentage points higher than in November 2006.

Passenger demand results were strong across most regions.

Asia Pacific (8.8%), North America (7.6%) and Europe (7.6%) all saw robust growth in November with no sign yet of any weakening in demand as a result of economic uncertainty.

Latin American carriers recorded a 20.1% increase reflecting a strong recovery in traffic share following the impact of industry restructuring during 2006.

Middle East carriers continued four years of double-digit growth with an 18.3% increase.
African carriers' growth slowed to 5.8% largely due to weaker demand in southern Africa and strong competition in long-haul markets.
 
Freight Traffic
Freight growth continues to be sluggish, reflecting strong competition with sea shipping and uncertainty over the economic outlook for 2008:

International freight demand growth slowed to 3.5% in November, down from 3.6% in October.

Over the first 11 months of 2007 freight demand grew 3.9%, well below the 4.8% recorded over the same period in 2006.

"It's a mixed picture," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's Director General and CEO. "The global economy ended 2007 on a surprisingly strong note. The November surge in passenger demand has been critical in combating high oil prices and helping airlines end 2007 with an industry profit of US$5.6 billion-the first since 2000. But against a backdrop of robust world trade, sluggish freight growth continued to be a disappointment."

"We ring in 2008 with a warning bell. Passenger demand growth is expected to fall to 5.0%. And the expected increase in freight demand growth to 4.3% will only help us recover some of the ground lost against sea shipping. High oil prices and the impact of the credit crunch will see industry profitability slip to US$5.0 billion in 2008. Since 2001 efficiency gains have been impressive: 64% improvement in labour productivity, 25% reduction in sales and marketing unit costs and a 16% decrease in non-fuel unit costs. The challenge for 2008 will be much more of the same-efficiency everywhere," said Bisignani.

International passenger traffic market shares by region in terms of Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK) or actual passenger traffic are:
 
Europe 34.0%
Asia Pacific 31.8%
North America 18.8%
Middle East 8.0%
Latin America 3.7%
Africa 3.1%

International freight traffic market shares by region in terms of Freight Tonne Kilometres (FTK) or actual freight traffic are:

Asia Pacific 46.1%
Europe 25.9%
North America 17.2%
Middle East 7.4%
Latin America 2.2%
Africa 1.1%

IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents some 240 airlines comprising 94% of scheduled international air traffic.