Another Strong Year for Air Travel Demand in 2016

Geneva - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced full-year global passenger traffic results for 2016 showing demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose 6.3 percent compared to 2015 (or 6.0 percent if adjusted for the leap year). This strong performance was well ahead of the 10-year average annual growth rate of 5.5 percent. Capacity rose 6.2 percent (unadjusted) compared to 2015, pushing the load factor up 0.1 percentage points to a record full-year average high of 80.5 percent.

A particularly strong performance was reported for December with an 8.8 percent rise in demand outstripping 6.6 percent capacity growth.

“Air travel was a good news story in 2016. Connectivity increased with the establishment of more than 700 new routes. And a $44 fall in average return fares helped to make air travel even more accessible. As a result, a record 3.7 billion passengers flew safely to their destination. Demand for air travel is still expanding. The challenge for governments is to work with the industry to meet that demand with infrastructure that can accommodate the growth, regulation that facilitates growth and taxes that don’t choke growth. If we can achieve that, there is plenty of potential for a safe, secure and sustainable aviation industry to create more jobs and increase prosperity,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.