The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced strong demand growth in air travel for March 2023 even as in the Sultanate of Oman, the number of incoming and outgoing international flights through Muscat, Salalah and Sohar airports grew by 112.4 per cent by the end of February 2023, to reach 14,250 international flights.
The total number of arriving, departing, and “transiting” passengers at Muscat, Salalah, Sohar, and Duqm was 2,231,451 passengers, an increase of 94 per cent during the same period.
Globally, traffic is now at 88 per cent of March 2019 levels. Total traffic in March 2023 (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) rose 52.4 per cent compared to March 2022. Middle Eastern airlines saw a 43.1-per cent traffic increase compared to March a year ago. Capacity climbed 30.5 per cent, and the load factor pushed up 7.0 percentage points to 79.4 per cent.
North American carriers’ traffic climbed 51.6 per cent in March 2023 versus the 2022 period. Capacity increased 34 per cent, and the load factor rose 9.8 percentage points to 84.8 per cent, the highest among the regions.
“As traveller expectations build towards the peak Northern Hemisphere summer travel season, airlines are doing their best to meet the desire and need to fly. Unfortunately, a lack of capacity means that some of those travellers may be disappointed.
Part of this capacity shortfall is attributable to the widely reported labour shortages impacting many parts of the aviation value chain, as well as supply chain issues affecting the aircraft manufacturing sector that is resulting in aircraft delivery delays.
However, a significant share of recent flight cancellations, primarily in Europe, are owing to job actions by air traffic controllers and others. These irresponsible actions resulted in thousands of unnecessary cancellations in March. This is unacceptable and should not be tolerated by the authorities,” said Walsh.
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