February figures confirm passenger traffic recovery

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February passenger traffic on the international scheduled services of IATA airlines was 5.6% lower than in February 2001, but the trend shows a continuing improvement since October 2001, the first full month following 11 September.

Passenger seat capacity was cut by 9.8% in February as airlines continued with drastic measures to cut costs and secure their financial viability. This resulted in a further improvement in average load factor to 72.4%, the highest since August 2001.

In the first two months of 2002, total traffic (passengers plus freight) fell by 7.9% compared with the same period in 2001, but total capacity fell by 9.5%.

In the first two months of 2002, airlines registered in South America had a fall in passenger traffic of 24.3%. North American carriers had a 10.4% fall, European carriers a 7.2%, but Asian carriers were only 3.6% down.

Source: Extracted from IATA Monthly International Statistics.

More detailed reports may be purchased from IATA's Aviation Information & Research Department, London. Email: stats@iata.org