Strong Passenger Demand Continues & Balancing Fleet Age For Efficiency And Sustainable Growth

Welcome back! Let's take a look at the average age of the global fleet, air passenger and cargo numbers for July and the theme of the WFS-WPS is revealed. Also, Willie Walsh on why air navigation service providers should be forced to pay for their service failures. Let's get to it.

Strong Passenger Demand Continues in July

The post-COVID recovery momentum continued in July for passenger markets.

Total traffic in July 2023 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose 26.2% compared to July 2022. Globally, traffic is now at 95.6% of pre-COVID levels.

Domestic traffic for July rose 21.5% versus July 2022 and was 8.3% above the July 2019 results. July RPKs are the highest ever recorded, strongly supported by surging demand in the China domestic market.

International traffic climbed 29.6% compared to the same month a year ago with all markets showing robust growth. International RPKs reached 88.7% of July 2019 levels. The passenger load factor (PLF) for the industry reached 85.7% which is the highest monthly international PLF ever recorded.

"Planes were full during July as people continue to travel in ever greater numbers. Importantly, forward ticket sales indicate that traveler confidence remains high. And there is every reason to be optimistic about the continuing recovery." - Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General

Read more about July air passenger numbers:?

• Full Air Passenger Market Analysis: July 2023
• Strong Passenger Demand Continues in July (press release)

News in Brief

? Aviation and Morocco Earthquake Relief Efforts

? Joint World Financial Symposium - World Passenger Symposium to Focus on Value Creation

? Accelerate@IATA Breaks New Ground

Air Cargo Demand Strengthens Despite Challenges

Data for July 2023 global air cargo markets shows a continuing trend of recovering growth rates since February. July air cargo demand was tracking just 0.8% below the previous year’s levels.

Although demand is now basically flat compared to 2022, this is an improvement on recent months’ performance that is particularly significant given declines in global trade volumes and rising concerns over China’s economy.

Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), tracked at 0.8% below July 2022 levels (-0.4% for international operations). This was a significant improvement over the previous month’s performance (-3.4%).

Read more about July cargo numbers:?

• Full Air Cargo Market Analysis: July 2023
• Air Cargo Demand Strengthens Despite Challenges (press release)

Director General's Blog: Air Navigation Service Providers Should Be Forced To Pay For Their Service Failures

The recent meltdown of the UK’s air traffic management system was a disaster for passengers attempting to travel to, from and through the UK on the August bank holiday, one of the busiest travel days of the year.

Close to 2000 flights were cancelled, and many thousands more delayed, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers.

Our first thoughts, as I said at the time, were for all the passengers, and the aircraft crews and ground staff, who suffered stress and inconvenience.

The first priority for airlines was to clear up the mess caused by UK NATS. Now that has been achieved, attention needs to turn to some key questions.

Namely, what happened, and how can we ensure it never happens again?

Read the full blog post on why air navigation service providers should be forced to pay for their service failures.

Chart of the Week: Balancing Fleet Age For Efficiency And Sustainable Growth

What's the average age of an aircraft?

Airlines modernize their fleets in a structural quest for lower fuel consumption and the associated carbon emissions reduction.

Newer aircraft models offer better fuel economy and operational performance, resulting in cost savings and lower CO2 emissions.

As of July 2023, the age of the global in-service fleet spans from newly manufactured aircraft to some regional turboprops that have been in operation for more than 50 years.

Looking at operators by region, Asia Pacific and the Middle East have the youngest fleets (around 10 years old), while Europe's average age matches the global average of 11.6 years (the median age of the global fleet, representing the midpoint in the age distribution, is around 10 years).

Fleets in the Americas, especially North America, tend to be slightly older, partly due to aging regional jets.

Africa's fleet is the oldest, around 5 years above the global average.

Learn more about the #WeeklyChart and balancing fleet age for efficiency and sustainable growth.

We are pleased to announce that ULS AIRLINES CARGO is the 30th air cargo airline to join IATA's airline membership!

ULS Cargo is a Turkish carrier with its main base at Istanbul International Airport.

It offers aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) services as its core business, as well as all-inclusive cargo charter services to airlines, charter brokers, and freight forwarders.

It operates a fleet of Airbus A310-300F aircraft and will expand its fleet as of September 2023 with the delivery of two B737-800BCF aircraft.

Thanks for reading! Safe travels and please consider sharing this newsletter.