Domestic air traffic demand up 14% in May

Domestic air traffic demand in India grew by around 14 per cent with the airlines enjoying an average load factor of almost 79 per cent in May compared to last year, even as the global traffic rose 6.8 per cent. India’s domestic demand was 13.8 per cent above previous year’s levels against a capacity expansion of 19.9 per cent. The load factor of 78.3 per cent is consistent with the global average of 79.4.

In China, domestic demand was 10.4 per cent higher than in last May, with load factors touching 82 per cent. Fastest international growth was witnessed in Latin America where air carriers saw a growth of 21.3 per cent compared to May 2010. The airlines of this region also experienced the fastest capacity expansion at 15.2 per cent. Asia-Pacific carriers recorded an expansion of 4.7 per cent, which was considerably below the global average of eight per cent. This was due to continuing weakness in the post-earthquake/tsunami Japanese market,