Positive February passenger and cargo traffic points to continued recovery

We announced continued strong growth in air travel demand, based on the February 2023 traffic results.

Total #airline passenger traffic?in February 2023 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose 55.5% compared to February 2022. Globally, traffic is now at 84.9% of February 2019 levels.

Global #aircargo demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs), fell 7.5% compared to February 2022. But February demand for air cargo was 2.9% higher than pre-pandemic levels in February 2019—the first time it has surpassed pre-pandemic levels in eight months.

Domestic Passenger traffic?for February rose 25.2% compared to the same period a year ago. Total February 2023 domestic traffic was at 97.2% of the February 2019 level. International traffic?climbed 89.7% versus February 2022 with all markets recording strong growth, led once again by carriers in the Asia-Pacific region. International RPKs reached 77.5% of February 2019 levels.

"Despite the uncertain economic signals, demand for air travel continues to be strong across the globe and particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Passenger traffic is now just about 15% below 2019 levels of demand and that gap is narrowing each month...the story of air cargo in February is one of slowing declines...an optimistic eye could see the start of an improvement trend that leads to market stabilization and?a return to more normal demand patterns after dramatic ups-and-downs in recent years," said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

You can find the full passenger release here

And the cargo release here

Dutch court halts flight cuts at Schiphol airport

We reacted positively to the decision by the Dutch court to uphold the legal challenges lodged by IATA, KLM and other airlines against the Dutch government’s ‘experimental regulation’ to cut Royal Schiphol Group airport’s flight limit to 460,000 from November 2023. The decision gives vital stability for this year to the airlines using Schiphol #airport and maintains the choice and connectivity passengers value. But cutting Schiphol's capacity remains the policy of the Dutch government so we the potential damage to aviation in the #netherlands is still a huge concern.

See our statement for more information

Beginners guide to SAF tells you everything you need to know about Sustainable Aviation Fuel

A new publication from the Air Transport Action Group is a beginners guide to #sustainableaviationfuel and #saf production. SAF is essential to our plans to #flynetzero.

Download the publication here

Chart of the Week: Impact of French ATC strikes

Our Chart of the Week showed how flights out of Paris in March were badly affected by the air traffic control #strikes in #france. Of course, the costs and impacts extended far beyond France, affecting traffic across Europe and beyond.

Full analysis here

Jet Fuel Price Monitor (6 April)

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