July '14 good month for Ind domestic air traffic: IATA report

India's domestic air passenger traffic grew by a "solid" six per cent in July, 2014, over the same month last year though the strongest growth in this area was witnessed in Russia and China, IATA said today.
"This could be an early sign of the success of the new (Indian) government's business-friendly stance. However, the government's July budget announcement showed little spending stimulus, which could keep India's growth trend below the pace of other emerging markets," global airlines' body International Air Transport Association (IATA) said while announcing global passenger traffic results for July.
India's Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPK), which measures actual passenger traffic, grew six per cent in July this year over July, 2013, while passenger load factor (or aircraft seats actually filled) stood at 69.4 per cent, the data showed.

Overall, the demand on domestic routes rose by 4.9 per cent in July over the previous year, ahead of a 3.5 per cent capacity increase, pushing the load factor up 1.1 percentage points to 83 per cent, it showed, adding that the strongest growth was recorded in China (8.8 pc) and Russia (9.9 pc).
The figures for international passenger traffic showed that the demand increased by 5.5 per cent compared to July, 2013, with airlines in Asia-Pacific benefiting from "an improved economic environment".
"July was another strong month of growth for air travel. People are connecting by air in ever greater numbers. That's true across all regions. Despite the various economic challenges, the outlook for passenger travel remains broadly positive," said IATA Director General and CEO, Tony Tyler.

However, Tyler said "the risks that could derail this trajectory" cannot be ignored. These include the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, weakness in the Eurozone, hostilities in Eastern Ukraine and instability in the Middle East.
"Airlines are on track to record a profit of some USD 18 billion this year. But that is a net profit margin of just 2.4 per cent, which does not provide much of a buffer," he warned.