International Air Traffic Demand Rises in May but Slower that Before

May results continue the April's trend of 4.4 percent growth following 3.1 percent rise in March. Yet the 5.5 percent average growth rate of the last 20 years was not reached showing that the growth rate slows down in general.

“Passenger demand growth has slowed compared to the past two years. This is in line with slumping global trade, rising trade tensions and weakening business confidence. In this challenging environment, airlines are managing capacity carefully in order to optimize efficiency,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

This trend is also visible in international air travel. Traffic demand in this sector rose 4.3 percent in May on year-to-year bases while in April the growth was higher – 5.1 percent. Latin America was the region that showed the highest growth rates while all other regions grew less.

Passenger traffic in Asia-Pacific rose 4.0 percent in May, a positive tendency after this April's modest 2.9 percent increase. Yet taking into consideration the region's regular double-digit growth rates over the past few years, this year's result is not as good. The major factor that influences negatively growth in the region is arguably the US-China trade tensions.

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