Spread of A(H1N1) influenza impacted traffic starting in May

"We estimate that the global impact of influenza A(H1N1) on global travel patterns in May was a 1 percent drop in passenger traffic," International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a press release.

According to global aviation figures, Mexican carriers were hit hardest with an almost 40 percent traffic drop in May.

North American carriers posted a 10.9 percent fall in passenger demand, considerably worse than the 4.2 percent fall in April. This was the result of weak demand to Latin American destinations affected by Influenza A(H1N1) along with significant recession-driven drops in both trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific markets.

Asia Pacific carriers recorded a 14.3 percent fall in demand. While capacity adjustments by the region’s carriers were the most severe (-9.3 percent), they did not keep pace with the fall in demand driven by weak economies and the impact of Influenza A(H1N1) on the region with the most vivid memories of the SARS crisis, IATA said.

Latin American carriers saw their traffic decline by 9.2 percent in May compared to the previous year. Against a capacity increase of 0.2 percent, the load factor plummeted to 64.7 percent or a 6.7 percentage point drop compared to May 2008 and the lowest load factor among all the regions.

European carriers, in additional to weak long-haul markets, saw some loss of market share to European low cost carriers whose traffic grew by 2.1 percent, while the network carriers reported a 9.4 percent decline.

Middle Eastern carriers bucked the declining trend with 9.5% growth in demand and a 14.5% expansion of capacity.

Meanwhile, African carriers saw a slight improvement of a 6.0 percent fall in demand in May, compared to a 7.1 percent decline in April.

IATA also announced that worldwide international scheduled traffic results for May showed passenger demand declining 9.3 percent compared to the same month in previous year while freight demand was down by 17.4 percent.

International passenger load factors stood at 71.2 percent, down from 74.5 percent recorded in May 2008.

The 17.4 percent decline in international cargo demand is a relative improvement compared to the 21.7 percent drop in April.

Since December 2008, cargo demand has been moving sideways in the -20 percent range.

IATA said this is one of the first physical signs of the economic recovery being anticipated in equity markets.

International passenger demand weakened from the -3.1 percent recorded in April to -9.3 percent in May. But both of the past two months have been slightly stronger than the 11.1 percent decline reached in March, even after adjusting for the distortions caused by the timing of Easter.

IATA said this indicates that a floor may now have been reached. However, the capacity adjustment of -5.0 percent in May did not keep pace with the fall in demand during the same month.

Moreover, the group said, although the impact of the recession appears to be stabilizing, strong headwinds from debt and low asset prices are expected to weaken and delay any significant recovery.

"We may have hit bottom, but we are a long way from recovery," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO, said in a press release.

"Even if we look beyond the crisis, it is difficult to see a return to business as usual. This crisis is re-shaping the industry. The burden cannot be placed on airlines alone. All partners in the value chain must be prepared to change—reducing costs and improving efficiencies," Bisignani said.

He also took a swipe at airline partners for price increases in this time of crisis for the aviation industry.

‘Already this year we have seen US$1.5 billion in cost increases from airports and air navigation service providers. It’s irresponsible in the best of times and a completely unacceptable abuse of monopoly position in a crisis," Bisignani said.

Source: abs-cbnNEWS.com