DUBAI – Middle East passenger traffic jumped more than 20 percent in January as the regional carriers continued to pace the global recovery in air travel, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Tuesday.

The industry body said regional carriers saw passenger traffic increase 23.6 percent compared to the same period last year, starting 2010 off on a good note after one of the worst years the global aviation industry has ever seen.

Middle East carriers saw traffic rise 19 percent in December and 11.2 percent during the whole of last year.

Carriers saw capacity rise 17.2 percent in January, while load factors stood at 75.3 percent. IATA said.

Global passenger traffic also improved in January, rising 6.4 percent on a year ago after seeing 4.5 percent growth in December, IATA said.

Global passenger traffic slumped 3.5 percent in 2009, its largest ever post-war decline.

Despite the improvement, IATA remained cautious and said it expects the industry will again post a loss this year.

“We can start to see the future with some cautious optimism, but better volumes do not necessarily mean better profits,” Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director-general and CEO, said in a statement.

“Passenger yields are still 15 percent below peak. And we expect 2010 losses to be $5.6 billion,” he added.

Bisignani said airlines lost two to three years of growth during the recession, but now demand is moving in the “right direction”.

Middle East cargo volumes rose 33 percent in January, up slightly on the 32.1 percent growth in December, while global cargo volumes grew 28.3 percent, up from 24.4 percent growth the previous month.

Source: business.maktoob.com