Global demand for air travel climbed 7.6% in March, but fuel costs continues to hamper the industry, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Latest figures show strong demand across all regions with Europe leading the way of the major regions, rising 8.8%. Demand in Asia Pacific climbed 8.1% and in North America by 5.3%.
International air travel increased 9.6% with capacity up 5%. It resulted in average load factors of 77.7%, up 3.2 percentage points on March 2011. Domestic travel rose 4.5%.
But IATA said comparisons with March last year were clouded by world events 12 months ago which included the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the Arab uprising.
The airline body said the year on year rise was around two percentage points higher than it would have been.
Despite the performance, fuel remained a major headache for the industry.
“Given the prevailing economic conditions, passenger demand is holding up well. But this is bringing little relief to the bottom line because yields are not keeping pace with the continued very high price of oil,” IATA director general and chief executive Tony Tyler said.
Fuel prices have risen 8% since January and now account for 34% of average operating costs, he added.
Domestic travel in Japan grew 15.5% on last year’s figures, closely followed by China which also recorded 10.1% growth.
