Annual growth in industry-wide revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) recovered to 4.3 percent, up from 3.1 percent in March.
IATA, in a statement said: “Growth remains steady, but is still well below the long-run average pace of around 5 percent. As we noted last month, the March and April results are blurred by the later timing of the 2019 Easter
holiday period and this month’s recovery comes as no surprise. Taking the average for the past two months gives an underlying growth rate of around 3.7 percent compared with the same period last year.”
In seasonally adjusted (SA) terms, the level of passenger volumes has flattened in recent months, confirming the slowdown in growth, the airline association said.
With air passenger volumes, the report notes that, over the past six months the annualized growth rate has been a relatively modest 2.6 percent, a clear slowing from the very strong 9.3 percent pace of the same period a year ago.