Passenger Traffic Continued to Recover in March, IATA Shows

According to the most recent press release issued by IATA, the total traffic in March 2022 was up 76.0 per cent compared to March 2021.

Even though that was lower than the 115.9 per cent rise in February year-over-year demand, the volumes registered during March of this year were the closest to 2019 pre-pandemic levels, at 41 per cent below, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

Domestic traffic also experienced an increase. In March 2022, domestic traffic was up 11.7 per cent compared to the same period last year. Nonetheless, the figures remain far below the 60.7 per cent year-over-year improvement registered in February.

Apart from the above-mentioned, IATA revealed that international RPKs (revenue passenger kilometres) increased 285.3 per cent in March 2022 compared to March 2021, this way exceeding the 259.2 per cent gain experienced in February versus the year-earlier period.

It has been explained that most regions boosted their performance compared to February 2022.

“With barriers to travel coming down in most places, we are seeing the long-expected surge in pent-up demand finally being realized. Unfortunately, we are also seeing long delays at many airports with insufficient resources to handle the growing numbers. This must be addressed urgently to avoid frustrating consumer enthusiasm for air travel,” the Director-General of IATA, Willie Walsh, said.

The data shows that the European carriers continued to lead the recovery, with March traffic rising 425.4 per cent versus March 2021. The impact of the war in Ukraine has been limited outside traffic to and from Russia and the countries neighbouring the conflict.

The capacity in Europe increased 224.5 per cent, and the load factor climbed 27.8 percentage points to 72.7 per cent.

The Asia-Pacific airlines also registered an increase. The March traffic rose 197.1 per cent compared to last year. While Japan and China kept restrictive measures in place for visitors, the other countries kept relaxed rules, thus contributing to the overall increase.

Similarly, the Middle Eastern airlines’ traffic rose 245.8 per cent in March of this year compared to March 2021 – an improvement compared to the 218.2 per cent increase in February 2022 versus the same months in 2021.

North American carriers (+227.8 per cent), Latin American airlines (+239.9 per cent), and African airlines (91.8 per cent) also registered a rise in March compared to the same month last year.