Domestic air traffic up 3.4 per cent in November

This is in spite of significant volatility in the market

India's domestic air traffic grew 3.4 per cent in November last year, in spite of significant volatility in the market which continues, global airlines body IATA said today.

"Indian domestic traffic rose 3.4 per cent in November compared to a year ago, after an 8.6 per cent rise in October, signaling that conditions remain volatile," the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a latest study.

Noting that growth rates "continued to show significant volatility" as the October growth rate was 8.6 per cent, it said the November performance "is more in line with growth (of 4.2 per cent) so far this year and this is a significant improvement on 2012 performance, when the market contracted 2.1 per cent".

On the international air traffic front, Asia-Pacific airlines recorded an increase in demand of 5.5 per cent compared to November 2012.

"This was supported by the stronger performance of major economies such as China and Japan. With capacity up 6.8 per cent on the previous year, the load factor slipped 0.9 percentage points to 75.4 per cent," the study said, adding that global passenger traffic results for November 2013 showed "a moderation in the pace of recent demand growth".

Total revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), which measures actual passenger traffic, rose 4.1 per cent compared to November 2012. This was slower than the 6.5 per cent year- over-year growth recorded in October last year.

"Demand growth hit a speed bump in November. But with continued modest improvements in economic conditions the outlook remains positive," IATA Director General and CEO Tony Tyler said.

He said it was "ironic" that the United States, which "gave birth to this amazing industry", has decided to raise taxes on air travel to close its budget gap.

"How much better would it be if instead of seeing aviation and air travellers as easy targets for USD 12.6 billion in new taxes, they shared in the vision that guided the pioneers who created this industry," Tyler said.

He expressed hope that governments would take stock of the wide-reaching economic and social benefits of aviation-enabled connectivity, before taxing air travel for short-term boosts to treasury revenues.