IATA – Air Passenger Market Analysis, October 2023

The October 2023 Air Passenger Market Analysis by IATA reveals that industry-wide revenue passenger-kilometers (RPKs) increased by 31.2% compared to the previous year, bringing it closer to pre-Covid levels with only a 2% gap remaining. Available seat-kilometers (ASKs) also saw a significant growth of 29.4% year-on-year, reaching 97% of pre-pandemic capacity. The global passenger load factor (PLF) remained stable at 83% as seat capacity matched passenger demand. Domestic traffic continued to stabilize, with a growth rate of 4.8% compared to 2019 levels. The annual growth rate for domestic traffic stood at an impressive 33.7%. International passenger traffic showed promising recovery, reaching 94.4% of pre-pandemic levels with a year-on-year growth rate of 29.7%. Air ticket sales demonstrated resilience, with trends closely resembling 2019 levels. This suggests that despite economic challenges faced by consumers, there is still strong demand for air travel. Interestingly, even though there were reduced airline operations to and from Israel due to the Israel-Gaza conflict in October 2023, global and regional air traffic appeared to be largely unaffected.