Total air passenger traffic in December, worldwide, reached a level very close to that recorded before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reported. IATA is the global representative body for the airline industry, and it has released air passenger traffic data covering December, and the whole of last year, reporting year-on-year changes, in percentage terms, in both cases.

Total air passenger traffic was up by 25.3% in December, and by 36.9% for the whole year.  December’s traffic reached 97.5% of its pre-Covid, December 2019, level, while total 2023 traffic was 94.1% of that for 2019. (Total passenger traffic during the last quarter of last year was 98.2% of that in the last quarter of 2019.) Regarding IATA’s six regions, the one that saw the strongest growth in total traffic in December was the Asia-Pacific, at 60.7%. It was followed by the Middle East (16.4%), Latin America (16.3%), Europe (12.5%), Africa (12.1%) and North America (10.6%).

“The strong post-pandemic rebound continued in 2023,” highlighted IATA director-general Willie Walsh. “December traffic stood just 2.5% below 2019 levels, with a strong performance in quarter four, teeing-up airlines for a return to normal growth patterns in 2024. The recovery in travel is good news. The restoration of connectivity is powering the global economy as people travel to do business, further their educations, take hard-earned vacations and much more.”

Regarding international passenger traffic, in December this was up 24.2% and reached 94.7% of its December 2019 level. For the whole of last year, it jumped 41.6% and achieved 88.6% of its 2019 figures. (International traffic in the fourth quarter of 2023 was 94.5% of that for the same quarter of 2019.)

International traffic growth for December was again highest in the Asia-Pacific, at 56.9%. Thereafter came Latin America (26.5%), the Middle East (16.6%), Europe (13.6%), North America (13.5%) and Africa (9.5%). The Asia-Pacific retained its lead in terms of international traffic growth for the whole of last year, achieving a figure of 126.1%. But Africa ranked second, with 38.7%. Then followed the Middle East (33.3%), Latin America (28.6%), North America (28.3%) and Europe (22%).

Total domestic passenger demand in December was up 27%, reaching 2.3% above the figure for December 2019. For the whole of last year, the increase was 30.4%, which meant that traffic was 3.9% up on the total for 2019. (Traffic in the last quarter of last year was 4.4% greater than during the same quarter of 2019.) The six domestic markets that IATA routinely tracked were Australia, Brazil, China, India, Japan and the US. Between them, they accounted for 22.3% of total domestic air travel, worldwide. The latest figures for these markets hailed from November, not December. In November, their year-on-year increases ranged from 147.1% (China), through 9.6% (the US), 8.2% (India), 6.6% (Australia), 5.9% (Brazil) to 0.9% (Japan). Australia and Japan were the only two of these domestic markets to have not yet recovered to their pre-Covid market demand. Australia was still down 4.2% in comparison to November 2019, while the equivalent figure for Japan was negative 3.2%.