Demand in aviation growing
April 25, 2012, 08:20 am
The International Air Transport Association recently released its global traffic results for February 2012, which showed an 8.6 percent increase in passenger demand compared to February 2011.
Several factors played a role in the increase in passenger demand, such as weaker traffic during the Arab spring in 2011, as well as the occurrence of the carnival celebration in Brazil in February. Cargo demand also helped increase the numbers as many deliveries were pushed to February after a holiday rush in December and January.
Global passenger capacity increased 7.4 percent year-over-year in February, which is having a positive impact on load factors which has held steady by airlines around 75 percent for the past year. Another item positively affecting the aviation industry is pilot insurance, used to safeguard the skies from the unexpected.
Asia-Pacific carriers saw a 5.9 percent increase in demand with a 6.2 percent increase in capacity year-over-year in February, as European carriers showed a 7.6 percent growth in demand and a 5 percent jump in capacity. The growth in Asia-Pacific is largely attributed to a small spike in international travel around the Chinese New Year, while European growth is the result of increased ecommerce, despite a decline in economic confidence across the region.
North American carriers reported the weakest growth in demand at 4.9 percent year-over-year in February, with a 4.3 percent growth in capacity. The Middle Eastern carriers posted a 23.4 percent growth in demand, as well as a 161 percent increase in capacity, as its aviation sector continues to boom. Despite the positive numbers, aviation experts predict the continually depressed global economy will hamper significant growth for the near future.
However, small aviation groups such as Great Lakes Aviation are reporting increased traffic and expect the growth to continue. Great Lakes Aviation released its traffic data for March 2012, showing a 1 percent increase in passenger traffic year-over-year, and a 6.7 percent increase in revenue passenger miles. The aviation group increased its available seat miles by 4.4 percent, and grew its load factor by 0.9 points.
In terms of year-over-year gains for Great Lakes Aviation for the first quarter of the year, passenger traffic has increased 7 percent, revenue passenger miles grew 12.5 percent and available seat miles jumped up 2.9 percent.
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