Driven by travel in emerging markets global air-passenger traffic grew by 3.2 per cent in April, compared to a year ago, the global airline industry body International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on May 30. IATA chief Tony Tyler said in Cape Town that he sees strong growth among African, Asia-Pacific, Middle Eastern and Latin American airlines.    

Middle Eastern airlines were the strongest performers, growing by 10 per cent, followed by Asia-Pacific at 4.7 per cent and Africa at 4.6 per cent. Latin America grew by 2.8 per cent. Growth was more modest in Europe where demand increased by 2.2 per cent in North American where the market rose 0.6 per cent.    

The seasonally adjusted rate for April was nearly five per cent, the airline industry body said. Marginally ahead of demand, capacity was up 4.4 per cent from last April, pushing the load factor downward by 0.9 per cent to 78.1 per cent. Africa was the second-best performing region with traffic rising by 4.7 per cent from the figure for April last year.