Global air connectivity more accessible , 4.4 billion passengers flew in 2018
Travel Biz News —
Global air connectivity continues to become more accessible and efficient, according to a performance figures for 2018 report released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The IATA World Air Transport Statistics (2019 WATS) confirms that 4.4 billion passengers flew in 2018 and record efficiency was achieved with 81.9 per cent of available seats being filled .
Some 22,000 city pairs are now connected by direct flights, up 1,300 over 2017 and double the 10,250 city pairs connected in 1998.
The real cost of air transport has more than halved over the last 20 years (to around 78 US cents per revenue tonne-kilometer, or RTK).
The development of the low-cost carrier (LCC) segment continues to outpace that of network carriers, which accounted for 21 per cent of global capacity in 2018.
Some 52 of IATA’s 290 current member airlines classify themselves as LCCs, and other new model airlines.
Similarly, airlines in the Asia-Pacific region once again carried the largest number of passengers systemwide.
The regional rankings , based on total passengers carried on scheduled services by airlines registered in that region, are: Asia-Pacific 37.1% market share (1.6 billion passengers ) , Europe 26.2% market share (1.1 billion passengers) , North America 22.6% market share (989.4 million passengers ) , Latin America 6.9% market share (302.2 million passengers ) , Middle East 5.1 % market share (224.2 million passengers ) , and Africa 2.1% market share (92 million passengers ).
The top five airlines ranked by total scheduled passenger kilometers flown, were: American Airlines (330.6 billion) , Delta Air Lines (330 billion) ,United Airlines (329.6 billion) , Emirates (302.3 billion) and Southwest Airlines (214.6 billion) .
The top five international/regional passenger airport-pairs – Hong Kong – Taipei Taoyuan , Bangkok Suvarnabhumi – Hong Kong , Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta – Singapore Changi , Seoul-Incheon – Osaka-Kansai , Kuala Lumpur–International – Singapore Changi were all within the Asia-Pacific region again this year , according to IATA.
The top five nationalities traveling (international routes) are: United Kingdom (126.2 million, or 8.6% of all passengers) , United States (111.5 million, or 7.6% of all passengers) , People’s Republic of China (97 million, or 6.6% of all passengers) , Germany (94.3 million, or 6.4% of all passengers) and France (59.8 million, or 4.1% of all passengers) .
Star Alliance maintained its position as the largest airline alliance in 2018 with 21.9 % of total scheduled traffic (in RPKs), followed by SkyTeam (18.8%) and oneworld (15.4%) , IATA report states.
Photo courtesy : China Daily
August 5 , 2019
