Global air traffic recorded a drop of 1.7% in June compared to the same month of the previous year, pressured by weak international demand, although with some rebound for airlines in the Middle East, and by the deterioration of domestic markets in China, the United States, and Japan, according to the latest data released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
In the international segment, global demand decreased by 0.9%. However, excluding the Middle East, international traffic would have advanced by 1.1%, while the domestic markets of various countries suffered a contraction of 3% overall.
"While performance in the Middle East improved, renewed tensions will not contribute to the region's recovery and the domino effect of rising fuel prices will continue to negatively impact travelers with higher airfares," pointed out the current director general of the entity, Willie Walsh.
For Walsh, it is essential to stabilize the scenario in the Asian region and normalize oil supply in order to improve the outlook for the air sector, as well as for economies and societies on a global scale.
By geographical areas, Africa was the region with the highest increase in demand, with an advance of 4%, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean, where traffic rose by 1.5%, and by Europe, which recorded a slight increase of 0.8%. In contrast, the Middle East led the declines with a collapse of 13.9%.
In the domestic traffic sector, Brazil stood out as the only market clearly in expansion, with a growth of 0.9%, while others, such as Australia, managed to remain virtually unchanged. The most intense corrections were observed in China, with a decrease of 5.2%, and in Japan, with a drop of 3.8%, a behavior that IATA mainly links to the rising cost of fuel. The United States and India also showed declines of 1.2% and 0.5%, respectively.