Global air travel demand rose 3.8 percent year over year in August, according to the International Air Transport Association. Capacity grew 3.5 percent. Load factor rose 0.3 percentage points to 85.7 percent.
"While we saw a pickup in passenger demand in August compared to July, growth remains below the long-term trend and well down on the roughly 8.5 percent annual growth seen over the 2016 to Q1 2018 period," said IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac. "This reflects the impact of economic slowdowns in some key markets, uncertainty over Brexit and the trade war between the U.S. and China. Nonetheless, airlines are doing a great job of matching capacity to demand. With passenger load factors reaching a new high of 85.7 percent this is good for overall efficiency and passengers' individual carbon footprint."
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Crossborder travel demand rose 3.3 percent year over year in August, while capacity climbed 2.9 percent, pushing load factor 0.3 percentage points to 85.6 percent. Demand for domestic travel climbed 4.7 percent; capacity increased 4.6 percent year over year, and load factor inched up one-tenth of a percentage point to 85.9 percent.
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