Recovery in passenger demand in October continued to be disappointingly slow, according to stats released by the International Air Transport Association (Iata).
Total demand (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) was down 70.6% compared to October last year – which was a modest improvement on the 72.2% year-to-year decline recorded in September. Capacity was down 59.9% compared to a year ago and load factor fell 21.8 percentage points to 60.2%.
International passenger demand in October was down 87.8% compared to October 2019, virtually unchanged from the 88.0% year-to-year decline recorded in September. Capacity was 76.9% below previous year levels, and load factor shrank 38.3 percentage points to 42.9%.
While African airlines’ traffic sank 78.6% in October, it was an improvement on the 84.9% drop in September and was the best performance among the regions.
Capacity contracted 67.5%, and load factor fell 23.8 percentage points to 45.5%
Domestic demand drove what little recovery there was, according to the organisation, with October domestic traffic down 40.8% - an improvement on a 43.0% year-to-year decline in September. Capacity was 29.7% below 2019 levels and the load factor dropped 13.2 percentage points to 70.4%.
“Fresh outbreaks of Covid-19 and governments’ continued reliance on heavy-handed quarantines resulted in another catastrophic month for air travel demand,” said Alexandre de Juniac, Iata’s director general and CEO. “While the pace of recovery is faster in some regions than others, the overall picture for international travel is grim. This uneven recovery is more pronounced in domestic markets, with China’s domestic market having nearly recovered, while most others remain deeply depressed.”
