Strong passenger demand continues in July

News / Strong passenger demand continues in July

July 2023 saw a substantial 26.2% increase in global passenger traffic compared to the previous year

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that the post-COVID recovery momentum continued in July for passenger markets.

Total traffic in July 2023 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) rose 26.2% compared to July 2022. Globally, traffic is now at 95.6% of pre-COVID levels.

Domestic traffic for July rose 21.5% versus July 2022 and was 8.3% above the July 2019 results. July RPKs are the highest ever recorded, strongly supported by surging demand in the China domestic market.

International traffic climbed 29.6% compared to the same month a year ago with all markets showing robust growth. International RPKs reached 88.7% of July 2019 levels. The passenger load factor (PLF) for the industry reached 85.7% which is the highest monthly international PLF ever recorded.

Air passenger market in detail

JULY 2023 (%YEAR-ON-YEAR)	WORLD SHARE *1	RPK	ASK	PLF (%PT) *2	PLF (LEVEL) *3
Total Market	100%	26.2%	23.7%	1.7%	85.2%
Africa	2.1%	25.0%	26.3%	-0.8%	74.6%
Asia Pacific	22.1%	67.1%	53.4%	6.7%	81.6%
Europe	30.8%	11.7%	11.5%	0.2%	87.7%
Latin America	6.4%	15.5%	11.4%	3.1%	86.7%
Middle East	9.8%	21.9%	21.0%	0.6%	82.1%
North America	28.8%	13.2%	11.9%	1.0%	89.7%

(*1) % of industry RPKs in 2022 (*2) Change in load factor (*3) Load factor level

International passenger markets

Asia-Pacific airlines saw a 105.8% increase in July 2023 traffic compared to July 2022, continuing to lead the regions. Capacity climbed 96.2% and the load factor increased by 3.9 percentage points to 84.5%.

European carriers’ July traffic rose 13.8% versus July 2022. Capacity increased 13.6%, and load factor edged up 0.1 percentage points to 87.0%.

Middle Eastern airlines posted a 22.6% increase in July traffic compared to a year ago. Capacity rose 22.1% and load factor climbed 0.3 percentage points to 82.6%.

North American carriers had a 17.7% traffic rise in July 2023 versus the 2022 period. Capacity increased 17.2%, and load factor improved 0.3 percentage points to 90.3%, which was the highest among the regions for a second consecutive month.

Latin American airlines’ traffic rose 25.3% compared to the same month in 2022. July capacity climbed 21.2% and load factor rose 2.9 percentage points to 89.1%.

African airlines saw a 25.6% traffic increase in July 2023 versus a year ago, the second highest percentage gain among the regions. July capacity was up 27.4% and load factor fell 1.0 percentage point to 73.9%, the lowest among the regions. For a second month in a row, Africa was the only region to see capacity growth outrun traffic demand.

Domestic passenger markets

JULY 2023 (%YEAR-ON-YEAR)	WORLD SHARE *1	RPK	ASK	PLF (%PT) *2	PLF (LEVEL) *3
Domestic	41.9%	21.5%	16.7%	3.3%	84.5%
Dom. Australia	1.0%	3.5%	8.5%	-4.1%	83.2%
Dom. Brazil	1.5%	3.6%	-0.1%	3.0%	83.4%
Dom. China P.R.	6.4%	71.9%	49.1%	10.5%	79.2%
Dom. India	2.0%	21.1%	13.3%	5.3%	83.3%
Dom. Japan	1.2%	13.4%	1.3%	7.8%	72.7%
Dom. USA	19.2%	11.1%	9.5%	1.3%	89.2%

(*1) % of industry RPKs in 2022 (*2) Change in load factor (*3) Load factor level

China’s domestic traffic jumped 71.9% in July compared to a year ago and is now 22.5% above July 2019 levels, which was the strongest gain against pre-pandemic levels among the domestic markets.

US airlines’ domestic demand climbed 11.1% in July and was 3.0% above the July 2019 level.