The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has reported healthy passenger demand for July with all regions globally reporting growth.
Total revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) rose 6.2%, compared to the same month last year.
Although this was down from 8.1% year-on-year growth in June, Iata said it marked a solid start to peak passenger demand season.
Monthly capacity (available seat kilometres or ASKs) increased by 5.5% and load factor rose 0.6 percentage points to a record high for July of 85.2%.
Alexandre de Juniac, Iata director general and chief executive, said: “The industry posted another month of solid traffic growth.
“And the record load factor shows that airlines are becoming even more efficient in terms of deploying capacity to meet demand.
“However, rising costs – particularly fuel – will likely limit the stimulus we would expect from lower airfares. Therefore, we do expect to see a continued slowing of growth compared to 2017.”
July international passenger demand rose 5.3% compared the same month in 2017, representing a deceleration compared to the 8.2% growth recorded in June.
Total capacity climbed 4.7%, and load factor edged up half a percentage point to 85%. All regions reported growth, led by Asia-Pacific for the first time in three months.
Domestic travel demand grew by 7.8% year-on-year in July, in line with the 8% growth recorded in June.
All markets saw annual increases, with China, India and Russia posting double-digit growth rates. Domestic capacity climbed 6.9%, and load factor rose 0.8 percentage points to 85.6%.
De Juniac said: “The second half of the year got off to a solid start. The strong demand we experienced in July is confirmation that summer is when people want to travel, to explore new places and to reunite with friends and family.
“Unfortunately, for air travellers in Europe, summer also brought delays and disappointment, while for airlines, it meant accepting schedule inefficiencies and longer flight times.
“That’s because air traffic capacity has not kept pace with demand and because some controllers used the opportunity of the peak traffic period to launch strikes and work slowdowns. Travellers want to get to their holidays on time.
“It’s past time for the European Commission, Member States and air navigation service providers to take urgent action to eliminate European airspace bottlenecks and to discourage air traffic controllers from penalising air travellers when they are unhappy over a contract.”