IATA Economics | Monthly Briefings November 2024

Industry capacity and demand volumes at all-time highs

• Global Cargo Tonne-Kilometers (CTK) increased by 9.4% year-on-year (YoY) last month, delivering the 14th consecutive month of demand growth. Demand contracted by 0.4% month-on-month (MoM), net of seasonal adjustment.
• International CTK added 10.5% from last year, with growth in all regions and major trade lanes. Latin America and Caribbean carriers led the expansion with 19.8% YoY. Cargo demand for the within-Europe trade lane outpaced other route areas with an 18.0% annual surge.
• Global air cargo capacity, measured in Available Cargo Tonne-Kilometers (ACTK), saw a 6.4% growth YoY in September, slower growth than before while delivering record high capacity.
• Global air cargo yield maintains a moderate upward trend while jet fuel prices fall.

Peak season ends with all-time high passenger traffic

• Industry total Revenue Passenger-Kilometer (RPK) grew 7.1% year-on-year (YoY), reaching an all-time high for the month of September. Available Seat-Kilometer (ASK) rose 5.8% YoY. Passenger load factor (PLF) is up by 2.0 percentage points (ppt) compared to the previous year, totaling 83.6% of the seat occupation in the industry on average.
• Domestic traffic for the industry grew 3.7% YoY. PR China remained in the leading position with 7.7% YoY, while all monitored markets showed signs of stabilization around pre-pandemic growth trends.
• Industry international passenger traffic climbed 9.2% YoY in September. Monthly growth rates remained comparable to previous values while quieting down as we move closer to the end of the year.
• Air travel demand growth is expected to maintain a positive trend, as indicated by ticket sales. The latest data suggest an increase of 7.4% YoY in ticket sales volumes for travel in October and November.