by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 2:05 PM ET, Wed January 10, 2024
Air travel appears to have all but recovered from its global pandemic slump.
Newly released data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) shows that air travel demand in November 2023 exceeded 99 percent of 2019 levels for the month.
Total global traffic for the same month, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) increased 29.7 percent compared to November 2022. That means air traffic worldwide reached 99.1 percent of November 2019 levels.
Looking just at international flights, traffic rose 26.4 percent in November 2023 compared to the same month one year earlier. The region with the strongest year-over-year growth was the the Asia-Pacific market, where air travel was up 63.8 percent.
Domestic air traffic worldwide also showed significant improvement, increasing 34.8 percent this past November compared to November 2022, according to IATA. Additionally, total domestic air travel was up 6.7 percent over November 2019. Here too, Asian markets showed the most robust performance. China led the way with a 272 percent increase in air travel for November 2023 compared to the same month one year ago.
In the United States, where November includes the busy Thanksgiving travel period, air travel was up 9.1 percent in November 2023 compared to pre-pandemic levels in November 2019.
Delta Air Lines plane at sunset. (photo via Delta Air Lines Media)
“We are moving ever closer to surpassing the 2019 peak year for air travel,” Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general, said in a statement. “Economic headwinds are not deterring people from taking to the skies.”
Even with the increased traffic in November, international travel remains 5.5 percent below pre-pandemic levels, but that gap is quickly shrinking.
What’s more, domestic markets have been above their pre-pandemic levels continuously since April, said Walsh.
Here’s a closer look at the air travel volume for each market internationally:
Asia-Pacific airlines: 63.8 percent rise in November traffic compared to November 2022, which was the strongest year-over-year rate among the regions. Capacity rose 58.0 percent and the load factor was up 2.9 percentage points to 82.6 percent.
European carriers: November traffic climbed 14.8 percent versus November 2022. Capacity increased 15.2 percent, and load factor declined 0.3 percentage points to 83.3 percent.
Middle Eastern airlines: 18.6 percent traffic rise in November compared to November 2022. November capacity increased 19.0 percent versus the year-ago period, and load factor fell 0.2 percentage points to 77.4 percent.
North American carriers: 14.3 percent traffic rise in November versus the 2022 period. Capacity increased 16.3 percent, and load factor fell 1.4 percentage points to 80.0 percent.
Latin American airlines: November traffic rose 20.0 percent compared to the same month in 2022. November capacity climbed 17.7 percent and load factor increased 1.7 percentage points to 84.9 percent, the highest of any region.
African airlines: 22.1 percent rise in November RPKs versus a year ago. November 2023 capacity was up 29.6 percent and load factor fell 4.3 percentage points to 69.7 percent, the lowest among regions.
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