Global air passenger traffic increased again in March, in year-on-year (y-o-y) terms, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported. IATA is the global representative body for the airline industry.

“Passenger demand grew by 3.3% [y-o-y] in March, a slight strengthening from the 2.7% growth reported for February,” stated IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “A capacity expansion of 5.3%, however, outpaced the demand expansion leading to a load factor decline from record highs to 80.7% systemwide.”

International passenger demand in March rose by 4.9%, y-o-y. But capacity increased by 7%, resulting in a load factor of 79.9%, which was a y-o-y decline of -1.7 percentage points (ppt).

Domestic passenger demand was 0.9% up, y-o-y, but capacity was again up more, by 2.5%. This led to a load factor of 82%, which was a -1.3 ppt decrease, y-o-y.

Of IATA’s six regions, the one that saw the greatest increase in total demand was the Asia-Pacific, at 6.3%, followed very closely by Latin America, at 6.2%. Then came Europe (4.4%) and Africa (4.1%). The remaining two regions recorded y-o-y declines in demand, that for the Middle East being -0.7%, and for North America, -1.1%.

In terms of international demand, again the same four regions saw growth, and the same two recorded declines. The four growth regions remained in the same order – Asia-Pacific (9.9%), Latin America (7.7%), Europe (4.9%) and Africa (3.3%). But the two other regions switched positions: North America saw a decline of only -0.1%, while the Middle East recorded a decrease of -1%.

IATA regularly tracks the six biggest domestic air travel markets, namely Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan and the US. Of these, the one that recorded the highest year-on-year growth in March was India, at 11%. It was followed by Brazil (8.9%), Japan (8%) and China (1.7%). Australia recorded a decline of -1.3% and the US a fall of -1.7%.

“There remains a lot of speculation around the potential impacts of tariffs and other economic headwinds on travel,” noted Walsh. “While the small decline in demand in North America needs to be watched carefully, March numbers continued to show a global pattern of growth for air travel. That means the challenges associated with accommodating more people who need to travel – specifically alleviating supply chain problems and ensuring sufficient airport and air travel management capacity – remain urgent.”