Freight, passenger traffic declines, but at slower rate: IATA

The International Air Transport Association, IATA, says that both passenger and freight traffic on the international scheduled services of IATA Members continued to fall in January 2002, but that the speed of decline was slower.

The passenger traffic decline was 2 percentage points better than in December 2001 and that of freight traffic was more than 6 points better.

From the point of view of carriers’ recovery from their worst ever year of operations, of equal significance, says IATA, was the achievement of cuts in capacity in line with the fall in traffic.

In January, total traffic (passengers plus freight) fell by more than 7 percent, but total capacity fell by more than 9 percent.

Carriers registered in Central and Southern America, at more than 21 percent, showed the steepest fall in January passenger traffic, reflecting severe local economic difficulties. North American carriers showed a 12 point fall, but European and Far Eastern carriers experienced a less than 8 point fall.