Muscat: Middle Eastern carriers saw a 14% year-on-year decrease in demand. Capacity fell 11% year-on-year, and the load factor was 76.3% (-2.6 ppt compared to June 2025), according to International Air Transport Association's (IATA) data for June 2026 global passenger demand.
The impacts of the Iran war continue to cause a highly negative year-on-year traffic comparison, but the rate of decline has halved month-to-month since April.
This reflects both the gradual normalization of airline operations across the region and the lower comparison base, as traffic in June 2025 was impacted by the military strikes that month.
“Global demand for air travel was down 1.7% in June compared to 2025. This is largely due to domestic market declines in China, the US, and Japan, and weak but improving international demand for Middle East carriers. While Middle East performance improved, tensions will not help the region’s recovery, and the knock-on impact of rising fuel prices will continue to burden travelers with higher airfares.
People continue to travel, which is an important contributor to global economic growth. There is no doubt, however, that stabilizing the situation in the Middle East and normalizing oil supplies would improve prospects for airlines, economies, and societies the world over,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
Meanwhile, “Air cargo demand grew 8.5% year-on-year in June. While North America was the strongest contributor to growth, demand in all regions was in positive territory compared to last year.
Demand growth outpaced capacity at the global level and in all regions except Latin America and the Caribbean. Demand also grew faster than global trade, supported by high-value technology products and urgent shipments. While this all gives strong reasons for optimism in the second half of 2026, risks remain—continuing hostilities in the Middle East and a renewed focus on tariffs by the US among them,” said Walsh.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
