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Global air travel growth improves

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Global international air passenger growth in August rose by 4.5% year on year and was up on the July result of 2.6%, latest Iata figures show.

The rise in passengers was consistent with signs of improving business conditions after a period of weakness in international trade and business confidence earlier in the year, the airline trade body said.

The improvement was supported by strong growth in markets like Europe-Far East (6.7%) and North and Mid Pacific (7.1%).

“The recent weakening of the eurozone economy is yet to have an obvious impact on air travel growth,” Iata said.

But air travel within Asia and markets connected to South America continue to show weakness.

“Economic and political turmoil in Thailand has damaged tourism demand over recent months and Malaysia air travel has been impacted by tragedies related to the flag carrier,” Iata reported.

“The North America/South America market has been hit by capacity cuts to Venezuela as well as weakness in key economies like Brazil and Argentina.”

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