Middle East airlines’ traffic dives 86.7% in October

Dubai - Recovery of passenger demand globally continues to be disappointingly slow

Middle Eastern airlines saw an 86.7 per cent traffic drop for October, improved from an 89.3 per cent demand drop in September, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said.

The recovery of passenger demand globally also continued to be disappointingly slow in October, Iata said.

Airlines in the Middle East saw capacity dropping 73.6 per cent, and load factor declining by 36.6 percentage points to 37 per cent in October.

International passenger demand in October was down 87.8 per cent compared to October 2019, virtually unchanged from the 88 per cent year-to-year decline recorded in September. Capacity was 76.9 per cent below previous year levels, and load factor shrank 38.3 percentage points to 42.9 per cent.

“Fresh outbreaks of Covid-19 and governments’ continued reliance on heavy-handed quarantines resulted in another catastrophic month for air travel demand,” said Alexandre de Juniac, director-general and chief executive of Iata.

Domestic demand drove what little recovery there was, with October domestic traffic down 40.8 per cent compared to the prior year, Iata said.

Total demand — measured in revenue passenger kilometres — was down 70.6 per cent compared to October 2019. This was just a modest improvement from the 72.2 per cent year-to-year decline recorded in September. Capacity was down 59.9 per cent compared to a year ago and load factor fell 21.8 percentage points to 60.2 per cent.

“While the pace of recovery is faster in some regions than others, the overall picture for international travel is grim,” said de Juniac.

This uneven recovery is more pronounced in domestic markets, with China’s domestic market having nearly recovered, while most others remain deeply depressed,” he added.

— issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com