Air passenger traffic grows by 8% in India in 2014: IATA

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Friday said that air passenger traffic in India saw an 8% growth in 2014 as compared to the previous year, the highest after China and Russia, even as global traffic rose by 5.9 %.

The passenger carrying capacity or average seat kilometers (ASK) by Indian airlines rose by 5.7% in 2014, during the same period, while load factor or capacity utilization improved by 76.3% and the passenger volume improved by 8%.

According to IATA, the global industry out-performed the 10-year average growth rate of 5.6 per cent. The biggest growth was recorded by China and Russia. Air passenger traffic in China rose by 11%, helping to drive global air travel performance upward while travel demand in Russia grew by 9.8 % during this period.

Besides, the Asia Pacific carriers recorded an increase of 5.8 %in traffic, which was the largest increase among the three biggest regions compared to 2013.

Overall, a record 3.3 billion passengers boarded aircraft globally last year, an increase of 170 million from 2013.

“With a 5.9% expansion of demand, the industry out-performed the 10-year average growth rate. Carriers in the Middle East posted double-digit growth while results in Africa were barely above previous-year levels,” IATA’s director general and chief executive Tony Tyler said.

“Overall a record 3.3 billion passengers boarded aircraft last year—some 170 million more than in 2013.”

Carriers in the Middle-east posted double-digit growth while results in Africa were barely above previous-year levels.

“While it is clear that people will continue to travel in growing numbers, there have been signs in recent months that softening business confidence is translating into a levelling off of international travel demand,” Mr Tyler said.

Meanwhile, international passenger traffic rose 6.1% in 2014 compared to 2013. Capacity rose 6.4% and load factor slipped 0.1 percentage points to 79.2%.

“Governments can kick-start economic development by reducing the passenger taxes that depress demand for air transport, costing jobs and prosperity,” IATA’s Tyler added.