IATA
announced its assessment of premium and economy travel in January.
Here
are the key points:
• Growth
in premium travel slowed in January, up 3.3% year-on-year but down on
the December result of 4.5%;
• Economy
class passenger numbers were up 2.9% in January year-on-year, also a
slowdown on December growth of 4.2%;
• The
timing of the Chinese New Year had some impact on the year-on-year
comparisons, but not much overall;
• The
seasonally adjusted trend weakened in January in both premium and
economy markets;
• The
decline could be month-on-month volatility, but a longer-term view of
the trend suggests otherwise;
• Over
the past 6 months, premium and economy passenger numbers have been
increasing at just 2-3%;
• Weakness
in the growth trend is not widespread though, it is largely isolated
to markets connected to Europe;
• Premium
travel within Europe contracted 0.5% in January year-on-year and the
North Atlantic market was flat;
• Emerging
markets, particularly those linked to Asia, are the source of growth
in premium travel;
• Current
levels of business confidence point to moderate growth in the months
ahead;
• But
with developing economies continuing to show weakness, downside risks
for air travel demand remain a factor.
Hussein
Dabbas as Regional Vice President for the Middle East and North
Africa (MENA), said, “Today’s premium traffic numbers show the
continuing strength of the Middle East as a driver of business air
travel. For example, growth in January on the Africa- Middle East
routes was 10.9% and from Europe it was 7.3%, compared to January
2012. This compares with overall global growth of only 3.3% over the
same period. With international business confidence strengthening in
recent surveys, this is a good sign of even more robust growth to
come.”