Middle East carriers had the strongest annual traffic growth at 13% in 2014, according to IATA statistics for 2014.
“The region’s economies continue to show robust growth in non-oil sectors, and are therefore well-placed to withstand the plunge in oil revenues. Capacity rose 11.9% and load factor climbed 0.8 percentage points to 78.1%.”
Latin American airlines’ traffic rose 5.8%. Capacity rose 4.7% and load factor climbed 0.8 percentage points to 80%. While Brazilian economic growth has stagnated, regional trade volumes have improved in recent months.
African airlines experienced the slowest annual demand growth, up 0.9% compared to 2013. With capacity up 3.0%, load factor fell 1.5 percentage points to 67.5%, the lowest among the regions. The weakness in international air travel for regional carriers is not believed to be attributable to the Ebola outbreak, the impact of which has been restricted largely to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, markets that comprise a very small proportion of traffic. Instead it appears to reflect negative economic developments in parts of the continent including Nigeria, which is highly reliant on oil revenues. South Africa also experienced weakness earlier in the year.
Domestic air travel rose 5.4% in 2014, with all markets showing growth, led by China and the Russian Federation. Capacity rose 4.3% and load factor was 80.6%, up 0.7 percentage points over 2013.
China’s domestic air travel rose 11.0% in 2014, helping to drive global air travel performance upward. The strong result occurred despite signs of a slowdown in the Chinese economy and industrial activity although consumer spending remains robust.
Russian domestic traffic climbed 9.8% last year but with the economy on the brink of recession, growth rates are expected to sharply decline in early 2015.
“In the aftermath of the Greek elections and the intensifying debate on how to deliver a dynamic economic program for Europe, we must not forget the power of air connectivity to create growth. Governments can kick-start economic development by reducing the passenger taxes that depress demand for air transport, costing jobs and prosperity. There are some positive signs. The Scottish government is promising to cut its air passenger duty by 50%. And Austria’s air transport levy is being evaluated as part of comprehensive tax reforms. Scrapping the Austrian levy alone could create some 3,300 jobs. That should help convince politicians in these countries to move from considering reductions to delivering results. High taxes, onerous regulation and infrastructure limitations make Europe a tough place to run an airline. A continent-wide commitment to address these issues so that aviation can play its critical role as an economic catalyst would be a powerful signal that Europe’s politicians really do mean business,” Tony Tyler, added.