Consumers hungry for air travel

Consumers hungry for air travel

Global airfares fell around 5% in 2015 compared with the previous year with consumers worldwide lapping up the lower fares.

The latest data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed 2015 as the strongest year for aviation since the post-Global Financial Crisis rebound in 2010 with growth in demand of 6.5% well above the 10-year average of 5.5%.

“Last year’s very strong performance, against a weaker economic backdrop, confirms the strong demand for aviation connectivity. But even as the appetite for air travel increased, consumers benefitted from lower fares compared to 2014,” IATA’s director general and chief executive Tony Tyler said.

Annual capacity rose 5.6% last year,with load factors climbing 0.6 percentage points to a record annual high of 80.3%. All regions experienced positive traffic growth for the year with carriers in the Asia Pacific region accounting for one-third of the total annual increase in traffic.

Asia Pacific carriers recorded an international demand increase of 8.2% compared to 2014 – the largest increase among the three largest regions.

IATA said the demand was stimulated by a 7.3% increase in the number of direct airport connections in the region, which resulted in time-savings for travellers.

Meanwhile capacity rose 6.4%, pushing up load factor 1.3 percentage points to 78.2%.

Image credit: iStock

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