International air travel grew faster than expected in June led by a sharp improvement in Asia, airline association IATA said today.
Passenger volumes returned to a level 1-2% above the pre-recession peak in the first quarter of 2008, the International Air Transport Association said in its monthly account of air travel. But passenger demand in Europe lagged behind the global increase of 11.9% in June.
'The industry continues to recover faster than expected, but with sharp regional differences,' IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani said.
'Europe is recovering at half the speed of Asia with passenger growth of 7.8% compared to the 15.5% growth in Asia-Pacific,' he added.
China drove growth in the Asia Pacific region, which recorded the most significant improvement in demand last month. All other regions recorded double-digit growth, including Africa which was buoyed by a 21% increase in air travel that IATA attributed to the World Cup in South Africa.
But Bisignani heralded a likely decline in the pace of global growth underway this year.
'Business confidence remains high and there is no indication that the recovery will stall any time soon. But, with government stimulus packages tailing off and restocking largely completed, we do expect some slowing over the months ahead,' he said.
Air freight grew by 26.5% in June, tailing off from growth of 34% a month earlier that was artificially boosted by additional cargo that had been delayed by the volcanic ash cloud over the Atlantic and Europe in April.
But air cargo traffic was still tracking the general economic recovery, IATA said.
Bisignani pointed to orders for hundreds of new airliners announced by Airbus, Boeing and Embraer at the Farnborough Air Show last week as grounds for cautious optimism in the industry.
