Lower fares propelled global demand for air travel in 2015,
when it grew by its highest level in five years, the International Air
Transport Association reported.
Global air traffic increased 6.5 percent year over year,
including a 6.3 percent increase for domestic air travel and a 6.5 percent
increase for international air travel. That is above the 10-year average growth
rate of 5.5 percent, and it's the highest growth rate since 2010, which was a
year of recovery following the 2008 global financial crisis.
Economic fundamentals were weaker in 2015 than in the
previous year, but lower airfares drove higher demand, according to IATA. Minus
the effects of a stronger U.S. dollar, global fares declined 5 percent year
over year in 2015.
Global airline capacity increased 5.6 percent in 2015, and a
third of that came from Asia/Pacific carriers, IATA reported.
Middle Eastern carriers saw the strongest demand growth
(10.5 percent), and their share of international traffic (14.2 percent)
outpaced that of North American carriers (13.4 percent). Middle Eastern
carriers increased capacity 13.2 percent, which outpaced demand growth.
International travel demand for North American
carriers was steady at 3.2 percent, which is slightly above their 3.1 percent
increase in capacity. European carriers experienced slower traffic growth at
the end of the year, owing to strikes at Lufthansa and Russian carrier
Transaero, and yet international travel demand increased 5 percent, which was higher
than European carriers' 3.8 percent increase in capacity.