Global airline passenger demand grew by 11% last month over April 2023, data released by Iata ahead of its annual meeting in Dubai has shown.
This outstripped the 9.6% year-on-year rise in total capacity to give a monthly load factor up one percentage point to 82.4%.
International demand rose 15.8% while domestic demand was up by 4%.
Iata director general Willie Walsh said: “Passenger demand has been growing for 36 consecutive months.
“As we enter the peak northern summer travel season, there is every reason to feel optimistic for a strong summer with airlines offering a wide range of travel options.”
He added that 97% of passengers asked in a Iata recent survey said they were satisfied with their last flight.
“Every part of the travel value chain needs to be focused on maintaining that,” Walsh added.
The Iata passenger survey also revealed 88% agreement that ’air travel makes my life better’.
Walsh said: “That’s an important motivation as our members gather for the Iata annual general meeting and world air transport summit in Dubai next week.
“This strong endorsement of the power of air connectivity to transform lives and boost economies brings with it a challenge that will also be on the minds of all attending.
“It is critically important that we achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 so that people can continue to rely on all the benefits of air travel.”
The Asia-Pacific region led demand growth in the month at 32.1%, followed by African airlines at 15.5%, Latin American carriers with 14.5%, those in the Middle East at 14.2% and European airlines at 10.1%.
The slowest rise in demand at 6.5% was experienced by North American carriers despite capacity rising by 10.3% year-on-year.