Domestic air traffic drops 12% in Oct

Mumbai, Nov 29:  

Asia-Pacific carriers experienced an increase of just 1.4 per cent in October this year compared with October 2011, and unchanged from September’s year-over-year performance, according to a global air traffic report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Strong competition on long haul markets could be holding down growth for the region’s airlines, and reductions in international seat capacity by Indian airlines would also be contributing to the weaker growth, the report added. Compared to September, traffic rose 1.1 per cent.

Indian domestic traffic plunged 12.4 per cent in October compared with a year ago, the worst performance for any market, reflecting the weakening economy and the struggles within the domestic airline industry. Capacity declined 7.3 per cent and load factor fell to 70.1 per cent.

Globally, domestic market growth trend has been soft throughout most of 2012, partly owing to the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the US domestic market. Weakness in India, Japan and the US was in stark contrast to strong growth experienced in China and Brazil.

Air freight

Globally, air freight demand fell sharply in October, down 3.5 per cent compared to October 2011. The weakness in demand continues to be focused on Asia-Pacific airlines, while West Asian carriers experienced strong demand growth.

Asia-Pacific carriers saw a 6.8 per cent decline in demand in October compared to October last year, the steepest decline for any region, while capacity fell 4.6 per cent. Between September and October, two-thirds of the fall in global air freight volumes has come from Asia-Pacific carriers, as demand for Asian exports declined in the weak global economy, according to the IATA report.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-logistics/domestic-air-traffic-drops-12-in-oct/article4147912.ece