IATA reports rise in demand for flights

16.5% increase for Middle East in November

Passenger demand for international scheduled flights in November 2009 rose by 2.1%, compared with November 2008, revealed the International Air Transport Association.

But IATA warned that the upward trend has been exaggerated by the sharp fall in demand in the second half of 2008.

Passenger demand is 6.4% better than the low point in Q1 2009, but remains 6% below the highest point in early 2008.

Giovanni Bisignani, IATA

Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's ceo, said: "Demand continues to improve but we still have a lot of ground to recover.

"We cannot anticipate any significant improvement in yields in the coming months. So, conserving cash, controlling costs and carefully matching capacity to demand remain the keys to survival."

European and North American carriers cut capacity by 3.9% and 6.7% respectively in November 2009, compared to November 2008.

Both European and North American carriers saw a 3% fall in November traffic.

 "Unemployment concerns continue to negatively impact customer confidence in both markets," said IATA.

Africa also saw a drop in demand, of 2.1%.

Carriers in the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America recorded growth in demand, however, with the Middle East leading the way reporting a rise of 16.5%.

Demand for Asia Pacific carriers increased by 5.1% and for Latin America carriers by 8.2%.

The growth in the Middle East can be related to "the strength of Asia and the ability of Middle East carriers to facilitate connection traffic to the region through Middle Eastern hubs", said IATA.

www.iata.org