SINGAPORE, 8 June 2023: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced continued strong passenger traffic demand in April against the backdrop of easing inflation and resurging consumer confidence.

Total traffic in April 2023 (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) rose 45.8% compared to April 2022. Globally, traffic is now at 90.5% of pre-Covid levels. At 81.3%, the industry load factor was only 1.8 percentage points below the pre-pandemic level.

Domestic traffic for April rose 42.6% compared to the year-ago period and has now fully recovered, posting a 2.9% increase over the April 2019 results.

International traffic climbed 48.0% versus April 2022, with all markets recording healthy growth, with carriers in the Asia-Pacific region continuing to lead the recovery. International RPKs reached 83.6% of April 2019 levels.

“April continued the strong traffic trend in the 2023 first quarter. The easing of inflation and rising consumer confidence in most OECD countries, combined with declining jet fuel prices, suggests sustained strong air travel demand and moderating cost pressures,” said IATA director general Willie Walsh.

International Passenger Markets

Asia-Pacific airlines saw a192.7% increase inApril 2023 traffic compared to April 2022. Capacity climbed 145.3%, and the load factor increased by 13.2 percentage points to 81.6%.

European carriers had a 22.6% traffic rise versus April 2022. Capacity rose 16.0%, and load factor climbed 4.5 percentage points to 83.3%, the second highest among the regions.

Middle Eastern airlines posted a 38.0% traffic increase compared to April a year ago. Capacity climbed 27.8%, and the load factor rose 5.6 percentage points to 76.2%.

North American carriers’ traffic climbed 34.8% in April 2023 versus 2022. Capacity increased 26.5%, and the load factor rose 5.2 percentage points to 83.8%, the region’s highest. North American international traffic is fully recovered, with RPKs 0.4% above April 2019.

Latin American airlines saw a 25.8% traffic increase compared to the same month in 2022. April capacity climbed 26.4%, and the load factor slipped 0.4 percentage points to 83.1%.

African airlines’ traffic rose53.5% in April 2023 versus a year ago, the second highest among the regions. April capacity was up 50.0%, and the load factor climbed 1.6 percentage points to 69.8%, the region’s lowest.

SINGAPORE, 8 June 2023: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on governments to live up to longstanding international treaty obligations to publish timely and thorough aviation accident reports.

Safety is aviation’s highest priority. Failure to publish prompt and complete accident investigation reports deprives operators, equipment manufacturers, regulators, infrastructure providers and other concerned stakeholders of critical information that could make flying even safer.

“The accident investigation process is one of our most important learning tools when building global safety standards. But to learn from an accident, we need reports that are complete, accessible and timely,” said IATA’s director general Willie Walsh.

The requirements of the Convention of International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention) Annex 13 are clear. States in charge of an accident investigation must:

Submit a preliminary report to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) within 30 days of the accident.

Publish the final report that is publicly available as soon as possible and within 12 months of the accident.

Publish interim statements annually should a final report not be possible within 12 months.

Only 96 of the 214 accident investigations during 2018-2022 conform with the requirements of the Chicago Convention. Just 31 reports were published within less than one year of the accident, with the majority (58) taking between one to three years. In addition to the fact that final reports regularly take more than a year, interim statements often provide little more than what was presented in the preliminary report.

“Over the past five years, fewer than half of the required accident reports meet the standards for thoroughness and timeliness. This is an inexcusable violation of requirements stated clearly in the Chicago Convention.
“As an industry, we must raise our voice to governments in defence of the accident investigation process enshrined in Annex 13. And we count on ICAO to remind states that the publication of a complete accident report is not optional. It is an obligation under Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention,” said Walsh.