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IATA records sustained market recovery in May; Asia-Pacific only region to report demand decline
July 11th 2022
International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general, Willie Walsh, said the recovery in passenger markets continued its momentum in May with many international routes exceeding pre-COVID-19 demand. Read More » The airline lobby group's monthly passenger report shows demand, measured by revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), rose 83.1% in May compared with the same month in 2021. Global capacity, or available seat kilometres, was up 52.8% year-on-year. “The recovery in travel markets is no less than impressive,” Walsh said. An exception was China, where domestic RPKs declined 73.2% in May compared with a year ago, mainly as a result of travel restrictions. China’s “continuing zero-COVID policy is out of step with the rest of the world and it shows in the dramatically slower recovery of China-related travel”, Walsh said. More broadly, RPKs in the Asia-Pacific dropped off by 4.7% year-on-year, the only region worldwide to record a decline in air travel demand for the month.
