Sharjah 24 – WAM: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced passenger data for May 2022 showing that the recovery in air travel accelerated heading into the busy Northern Hemisphere summer travel season.
In a statement on Tuesday, IATA said that the total traffic in May 2022 was up 83.1 percent compared to May 2021, largely driven by the strong recovery in international traffic. Global traffic is now at 68.7 percent of pre-crisis levels.
International traffic rose 325.8 percent versus May 2021. The easing of travel restrictions in most parts of Asia is accelerating the recovery of international travel. May 2022 international RPKs reached 64.1percent of May 2019 levels.
European carriers’ May traffic rose 412.3 percent versus May 2021. Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific airlines had a 453.3 percent rise in May traffic compared to May 2021.
Middle Eastern airlines’ traffic rose 317.2 percent in May compared to May 2021. May capacity rose 115.7 percent versus the year-ago period.
North American carriers experienced a 203.4 percent traffic rise in May versus the 2021 period.
Latin American airlines’ May traffic rose 180.5 percent compared to the same month in 2021. However, African airlines had a 134.9 percent rise in May revenue passenger kilometre or RPKs versus a year ago.
