The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that international passenger traffic increased by 5.1% in August 2012, compared to the same period in 2011. From the beginning of the year until August, the increase was only 1.2%.
During August, seats were supplemented by 4.1%, and the average load reached 82.1% compared to the same period last year. The Middle East reported the highest increase in international traffic in August - 16.7%, and other regions recorded an average increase of 13.3%.
Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and Latin America reported increases of 5.6%, 0.5%, 2.9% and 6% in August 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.
Domestic passenger traffic increased worldwide by 4,1% during August 2012, while India reported an increase of 4,2%, an increase of 0,7% of seats and the loading factor was 66,6%. Japan's domestic traffic declined by 2,1% during the month, while Brazil, China and the US increased by 9,4%, 10,8% and 2,4%, all compared to the same period in 2011.
As we can see, the developed areas have stagnated or registered small increases, and the emerging areas are in a full growth process. The crisis and a saturation of the moment have led to these insignificant increases. For this reason, we are also witnessing several operational shutdowns among airlines, especially state-owned ones. I mention the cases here Malev and Spanair, two of the leading European companies that have stopped operating in 2012.
IATA also gives some more optimistic news. They announced that global profit will increase from 3 billion, estimated at the beginning of 2012, to 4.1 billion, but about 50% lower than 2011. Similarly, the developed areas especially Europe and North America will suffer the most. But other areas such as Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the United Arab Emirates will be growing.