August Passenger Growth Took Slight Nosedive, IATA Says

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported 4.8 percent year-on-year growth in international passenger traffic for August 2006. This is the smallest monthly passenger traffic increase since the end of 2003 and marks the fourth consecutive month of declining growth in passenger demand.

The average load factor for August remained near record levels at 79.4 percent, with North American carriers leading all regions with a load factor of 82.7 percent.

For the first eight months of the year, passenger demand grew by 6.1 percent over the same period in 2005. Average load factors for the period stood at 76.4 percent.

The Middle East led all regions with August demand growth for passenger traffic at 11.9 percent. Strong growth in Africa continued with the region registering 8.9 percent traffic increases for passenger. Restructuring in Latin America led to a demand decline of 8.5 percent for passenger. European growth remained stable at 3.5 percent for passenger.