GENEVA: Global air passenger traffic soared 6.3 per cent in 2016 from a year earlier as air fares dropped, IATA said on Thursday, warning against “protectionist agendas” that threaten reining in rising air travel.
“Air travel was a good news story in 2016,” said Alexandre de Juniac, head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The addition of more than 700 new airline routes last year, and the average fall in the price for return tickets of $44, “helped to make air travel even more accessible,” he said.
This allowed global passenger numbers to reach a record 3.7 billion, he said. Last year’s hike was well above the 10-year average annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent.
Airline capacity meanwhile rose 6.2 per cent, with the average load factor, or percentage of seats occupied, climbing 0.1 per cent to a record annual high of 80.5 per cent. De Juniac hailed the growing global demand, stressing that “our freedom to connect through air travel drives prosperity and enriches societies.”
“That freedom can only be given its fullest expression when governments facilitate the movement of people and goods,” he said, insisting that “aviation is the business of freedom (and) we must defend its social and economic benefits from barriers and protectionist agendas.” — AFp
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