IATA reports growth in international air travel

NEW DELHI - International air passenger-traffic rose in July, with the premium travel segment growing at 13.8 percent and the economic travel by 8.8 percent as compared to the same month last year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Wednesday.

“The number of passengers measured by flight segment continued to expand strongly in July. Passengers travelling in first and business class seats on international markets rose by 13.8 percent from the level seen the previous year,” said the Premium TraffiC Monitor of the agency.

The report said the premium travel in June and July was at over 10 percent of annual growth over the like period in the corresponding year.

“This is an annualized pace of expansion of more than 10 percent. Clearly business travel still has considerable momentum, despite the economic uncertainties in western economies,” the report said.

According to the agency, growth in both the seat segments was dominated by business travel rather than leisure. It also said there was confidence in the industry as a the indicators remain positive.

“In July, growth in both seat classes continued to be driven by business travel rather than leisure. Indicators such as world trade and business confidence eased in July but remain positive,” the report further siad.

The report added that the emerging economies were leading the revival of the industry, and the routes like Asia and Middle East showed double digit growth.

“The pattern was driven by divergent local economic conditions, stronger in the emergin’ economies compared to the western economies. Routes linked to Asia and Middle East continued to show strong double digit growth rates,” report added.