Middle Eastern airlines see 26.6% increase in September traffic

Muscat: Middle Eastern airlines saw a 26.6 percent increase in September traffic compared to a year ago, according to a new report.

“Capacity rose 23.7 percent and load factor climbed 1.9 percentage points to 81.8 percent in September 2023,” the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in its latest report.

The IATA further announced that the strong post-pandemic passenger traffic trend continued in September. The total traffic in September 2023 (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) rose 30.1 percent compared to September 2022. Globally, traffic is now at 97.3 percent of pre-COVID levels.

Domestic traffic hit a new high for September, as traffic rose 28.3 percent versus September 2022 and exceeded the September 2019 level by 5 percent.

International traffic climbed 31.2 percent compared to the same month a year ago. All markets saw double-digit percentage gains year on year. International RPKs reached 93.1 percent of September 2019 levels.
“The third quarter of 2023 ended on a high note, with record domestic passenger demand for the month of September and continued strong international traffic,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

The association further said that the Asia-Pacific airlines had a 92.6 percent increase in September 2023 traffic compared to September 2022, continuing to lead the regions in terms of annual improvement. Capacity climbed 82.1 percent and the load factor increased by 4.5 percentage points to 82.5 percent.

European carriers’ September traffic climbed 15.7 percent versus September 2022. Capacity increased 14.9 percent, and the load factor edged up 0.6 percentage points to 85.5 percent.

North American carriers had an 18.9 percent traffic rise in September 2023 versus the 2022 period. Capacity increased 18.0 percent, and load factor improved 0.6 percentage points to 85.6 percent.

Latin American airlines’ traffic rose 26.8 percent compared to the same month in 2022. September capacity climbed 24.7 percent and load factor rose 1.4 percentage points to 85.8 percent.

African airlines posted a 28.1 percent traffic increase in September 2023 versus a year ago. Capacity was up 29.9 percent and load factor slipped 1.0 percentage points to 72.6 percent.