The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced on Wednesday that international scheduled air traffic showed continued strengthening of demand last March. Compared to March 2009, passenger demand was up 10.3 percent, while cargo demand grew 28.1 percent. Both are improvements from the 9.0 percent and 26.3 percent growth for passenger and freight demand recorded in February, IATA said in a report sent to Saudi Gazette. These are strong gains, but the data is being compared to March 2009, which was the low point for international air travel during the recession. “March results show that the pace of the upturn is strong. But the trauma of the recession is not over. The industry has lost two years of growth, and passenger and freight markets are still 1 percent below early 2008 highs. Nonetheless, the pace of improvement, based on an improving global economic situation, is much faster than anybody would have expected even six months ago,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's director general and CEO. IATA noted that the International Monetary Fund revised global GDP growth forecasts from 3.0 percent to 4.3 percent for 2010. With a 78.0 percent load factor recorded in March, passenger load factors remain at record highs. While demand expanded by 10.3 percent in March, capacity increases stood at 2.0 percent, boosting the load factor and creating much tighter supply and demand conditions.
