Buoyed up by lower fares, air travel demand surged to the “strongest” level in five years in 2015 with the Middle East region leading the pack with an annual growth of 10.5%, an IATA report shows. 
Global air passenger traffic grew by 6.5% in 2015 as a whole, the fastest pace since the post-global financial crisis rebound in 2010 and well above the 10-year average annual growth of 5.5%, it said. 
While the economic backdrop was weaker in 2015 compared to the previous year, passenger traffic received a strong boost from lower air fares: After adjusting for distortions from the rise in the dollar, global airfares in 2015 were approximately 5% lower than in 2014. 
“All told, we estimate this boost to have driven around half of the annual growth in traffic last year,” the International Air Transport Association said in its report yesterday.
The “fastest growth” was registered by Middle Eastern carriers, with international revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) up 10.5% year-on-year. 
Middle Eastern carriers’ share of total international traffic rose to 14.2% in 2015, and overtook that of North American carriers (13.4%).
Total domestic travel grew by 6.3% in 2015, although there was a “wide dispersion” in performance by market, IATA said.
Indian and Chinese domestic markets led the way, with both registering double-digit annual growth.
In India’s case, growth accelerated strongly helped by solid economic growth and an 8.3% increase in the average frequency of flights on each route over the year. Notably, the domestic load factor jumped by 6.7% points from 2014 to a record high of 83.2%, the report showed. 
IATA director general and CEO Tony Tyler said, “Last year’s very strong performance, against a weaker economic backdrop, confirms the strong demand for aviation connectivity. But even as the appetite for air travel increased, consumers benefited from lower fares compared to 2014.” 
“Aviation delivered strong results for the global economy in 2015, enabling connectivity and helping to drive economic development. The value of aviation is well understood by friends and families whom aviation brings together, by business travellers meeting clients in distant cities, and particularly by those for whom aviation is a lifeline in times of crisis. It is very disappointing to see that some governments still wrongly believe that the value of taxes and charges that can be extracted from air transport outweighs the benefits - economic and social - of connectivity. The most recent example is the dramatic increase in the Italian Council Tax levied on air passengers. This 33%-38% hike will damage Italian economic competitiveness, reduce passenger numbers by over 755,000 and GDP by €146mn a year. An estimated 2,300 jobs a year will be lost. At a time when the global economy is showing signs of weakening, governments should be looking for ways to stimulate spending, not discourage it,” Tyler said.