Continuing its dominant position in the domestic travel demand for the 14th consecutive month, India's air passenger traffic surged 21 per cent in May over the corresponding period of last year.
Demand for domestic traffic rose 5.1 per cent, outpacing international demand growth of 4.3 per cent in May 2016 according to the data released by International Air Traffic Association (IATA).
As against this India's domestic air traffic grew 21 per cent, it said.
The overall traffic growth (domestic and international), however, rose 4.6 per cent in May this year over May 2015 with the demand getting impacted due to recent terrorist strikes and UK's decision to opt out of the European Union.
"After a very strong start to the year, demand growth is slipping back toward more historic levels. A combination of factors is likely behind this more moderated pace of demand growth. These include continuing terrorist activity and the fragile state of the global economy. Neither bode well for travel demand. And the shocks of Istanbul and the economic fallout of the Brexit vote make it difficult to see an early uptick," IATA Director General and Chief Executive Officer Tony Tyler said.
India, which is the fastest growing aviation market currently, had logged 21.8 per cent growth in domestic traffic in April, 2016.
"India's domestic traffic soared 21.8 per cent, marking the 20th month of double-digit traffic growth and the 13th consecutive month it has led the domestic markets," IATA had said at the time of releasing traffic data for April.
For Asia-Pacific carriers, the large markets in India, China and Japan mean that domestic travel accounts for 45 per cent of the region's operations, IATA said.
Significantly, India accounts for only 1.2 per cent of the total domestic air traffic.
"The shockwaves of the Brexit vote have extended worldwide and the fallout will affect the air transport industry, from both economic and regulatory perspectives," Tyler said.
Aviation plays a vital role in supporting economic growth and development, he said adding as the post-Brexit regulatory framework is negotiated between the EU and the UK it is critical that there are no steps backward for aviation connectivity.
IATA represents nearly 265 airlines, comprising 83 per cent of global air traffic.
Traffic growth is projected to slowdown to 5.1 per cent
in 2017 from 5.9 per cent this year as the demand stimulus from lower oil prices taper off next year, it added.
Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to generate a net profit of USD 6.3 billion in 2017, lower than USD 7.3 billion in 2016.
In 2017, airlines are expected to take delivery of some 1,700 new aircraft and around half of them would be replace older and less fuel-efficient aircraft.
"This would expand the global commercial fleet by 3.6 per cent to 28,700," IATA said.
Observing that governments do not make aviation's work easy, de Juniac said the global tax bill has ballooned to USD 123 billion. "Over 60 per cent of countries put visa barriers in the way of travel and the total number of ticket taxes exceeds 230," he noted.
Emphasising that the activities of the aviation industry must be sustainable, de Juniac said it is a challenge for an industry that is carbon-intensive and growing to meet demand.
