SINGAPORE, 9 January 2023: that the Air travel recovery continued through November 2022, according to the latest data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Reporting earlier this week on November’s airline performance, IATA said traffic in November 2022 (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) rose 41.3% compared to November 2021. Globally, traffic is now at 75.3% of November 2019 levels.
International traffic rose 85.2% versus November 2021. The Asia-Pacific continued to report the strongest year-over-year results, with all regions showing improvement compared to the prior year. November 2022, international RPKs reached 73.7% of November 2019 levels.
Domestic traffic for November 2022 was up 3.4% compared to November 2021, with travel restrictions in China continuing to dampen the global result.
“Traffic results in November reinforce that consumers thoroughly enjoy the freedom to travel. Unfortunately, the reactions to China’s reopening of international travel in January remind us that many governments are still playing science politics regarding Covid-19 and travel. Epidemiologists, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and others have said that the reintroduction of testing for travellers from China can do little to contain a virus already present worldwide,” said IATA’s director general Willie Walsh.
“China’s objections to these policy measures are compromised by its pre-departure testing requirements for people travelling to China. Governments should focus on using available tools to manage Covid-19 effectively—including improved therapeutics and vaccinations—rather than repeating policies that have failed repeatedly over the last three years.”
International Passenger Markets
Asia-Pacific airlines had a 373.9% rise in November traffic compared to November 2021, the strongest year-over-year rate among the regions. Capacity rose 159.2%, and the load factor was up 35.9 percentage points to 79.2%.
European carriers’ November traffic climbed 45.3% versus November 2021. Capacity increased by 25.1%, and the load factor increased 11.6 percentage points to 83.6%, the highest among the regions.
Middle Eastern airlines saw an 84.6% traffic rise in November compared to November 2021. November capacity increased 45.4% versus the year-ago period, and the load factor climbed 16.5 percentage points to 77.7%.
North American carriers experienced a 69.9% traffic rise in November versus the 2021 period. Capacity increased by 45.5%, and the load factor climbed 11.6 percentage points to 81.0%.
Latin American airlines’ November traffic rose 59.2% compared to the same month in 2021. November capacity climbed 55.6%, and the load factor increased 1.9 percentage points to 82.9%.
African airlines had an 83.5% rise in November RPKs versus a year ago. November 2022 capacity was up 48.4%, and the load factor climbed 14.2 percentage points to 74.3%, the lowest among regions.
