Total global air passenger traffic rose by 2.6%, year-on-year (y-o-y), in February, the International Air Transport Association (IATA – the global representative body for the airline industry) has reported. Total capacity increased by 2% over the same period. International demand was up 5.6%, also year-on-year, and international capacity rose by 4.5%. However, domestic passenger demand fell by -1.9%, and capacity declined by -1.7%.

Regarding load factors (how full airliners were) in February, the total figure came to 81.1%, which is a 0.4 percentage point (ppt) increase, y-o-y. The international load factor was 80.2%, up 0.9 ppt y-o-y. The domestic load factor was 82.6%, which was a slight decline (-0.2 ppt) y-o-y.

“While traffic growth slowed in February, much of this can be explained by factors including the leap year, and the lunar new year falling in January compared to February last year,” explained IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “February traffic hit an all-time high, and the number of scheduled flights is set to continue increasing in March and April. But we need to keep a close eye on developments in North America, which saw falls in both domestic and international traffic.”

The region which saw the strongest y-o-y total passenger growth in February was Africa, at 6.8%. It was followed by Latin America, at 4.6%, and then Europe (4.3%), the Asia-Pacific (4.2%) and the Middle East (3.3%). North America registered a drop of -3.2%.

Regarding international traffic, the region which recorded the strongest growth was the Asia-Pacific, with a figure of 9.5%, followed by Africa and Latin America, both of which saw growth of 6.7%. Then came Europe (5.7%) and the Middle East (3.1%). North American airlines again registered a decline, of -1.5%.

The six major domestic air markets monitored by IATA were Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan and the US. In February, the one that recorded the strongest y-o-y growth was India, with 13.2%, followed by Brazil (8%) and Japan (5.8%). China registered a decline of -3.2%, Australia a fall of -3.8%, and the US a drop of -4.2%.

“Traffic decline in China (-3.2%) was likely due to Lunar New Year falling in January this year compared to February 2024,” observed IATA. “Falling US consumer confidence may well have contributed to the -4.2% decline in domestic US traffic.”