Air-passenger demand growth hits five-year peak in January

This was the strongest increase in more than five years.
Results were positively affected by traffic associated with the Lunar New Year celebrations, which this year occurred in January. In 2016, the festival occurred in February. IATA estimates that holiday-related travel contributed up to one-half a percentage point in passenger-demand growth.
January capacity rose by 8.0 per cent, and load factor climbed 1.2 percentage points to 80.2 per cent.
Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director-general and chief executive officer, said 2017 “is off to a very strong start, with demand at levels not seen since 2011. This is supported by the upturn in the global economic cycle and a return to a more normal environment after the terrorism and political ‘shock’ events seen in early 2016.”