Air transport: passenger demand falls 70.6% in October
Total demand (measured in revenue passenger-kilometers or RPK) fell 70.6% in October compared to the same month in 2019, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported on Tuesday.
This was only a modest improvement from the 72.2% year-on-year decline recorded in September.
Capacity was down 59.9% compared to the prior year and load factor fell 21.8 percentage points to 60.2 percent.
The widespread and unprecedented impact of Covid-19, related travel restrictions, and social distancing measures in place around the world have significantly reduced the demand for air travel.
Globally, the air transport market is dominated by Delta Air Lines, American Airlines Group, Lufthansa Group, United Airlines, Air France–KLM, IAG, Southwest Airlines, China Southern Airlines, All Nippon Airways and China Eastern Airlines .
After initially affecting services in China starting in January, the spread of the virus and the resulting global pandemic affected most of the international network.
Starting in March, large public events were canceled, government authorities began to impose restrictions on non-essential activities, companies suspended travel, and popular leisure destinations temporarily closed to visitors.
Additionally, certain key countries in air transport have imposed prohibitions on international travelers for specific periods or indefinitely.
According to IATA, international passenger demand in October was down 87.8% compared to October 2019, virtually unchanged from the 88.0% year-on-year decline recorded in September.
Air Transport
Capacity was 76.9% below year-earlier levels, and load factor was down 38.3 percentage points to 42.9 percent.
The internal demand in air transport drove the little recovery that there was, and the internal traffic in October fell 40.8% compared to the previous year.
This improved from a 43.0% year-on-year decline in September. Capacity was 29.7% below 2019 levels and load factor fell 13.2 percentage points to 70.4 percent.
