Cross-Border, Far East Traffic Show Increases; North Atlantic
Stagnant
The Association of European Airlines informed ANN Wednesday of
the release of traffic and capacity data for its members in
December 2006... giving a first look at the overall traffic and
capacity results for 2006. AEA members boarded 343.6 million
passengers during the course of the year, 14.8 million more than in
2005... and an increase of 4.5 percent.
Using the more conventional measure of passenger-kilometers to
gauge European traffic volume, the number grew by slightly more
-- a 5.2 percent increase, which AEA says comes from a slight
increase in the average length of airline journeys.
Looking at the individual operating regions, in order of
size:
- North Atlantic (26% of total AEA passenger-km) grew by just
0.7%. This is the second successive low growth figure on the North
Atlantic, following a 2.0% increase in 2005.
- Cross-Border Europe (23% of total) increased by 6.9%, a strong
growth in the historical perspective.
- Far East/Australasia (20%) grew by 9.8%. The region has been
strongly and consistently in growth since the end of the SARS
crisis in 2003, although the 2006 total fell short of the expected
double-digit growth due to an uncharacteristically weak December
result of just +4.9%
- Domestic Europe (8%) posted a 2.5% increase. This market, which
accounts for almost one-third of AEA passenger boardings, has
significantly underperformed the cross-border segment for the last
three years.
Significant among the other operating regions -- which make up
the remaining one-quarter of AEA passenger traffic -- were a 12.8%
increase to traffic across the South Atlantic, and reviving North
Africa and Middle East markets which grew at +10.4% and +6.3%,
respectively.
The 5.2% traffic growth was accommodated within a capacity
increase of 4.4%, so for the third successive year a load factor
increase was recorded, by 0.6 percentage points to 76.5%. All the
longhaul regions except Africa posted load factors in excess of
80%. Seat occupancy on the South Atlantic was a remarkable 86.3%,
by a considerable margin the highest annual load factor ever
recorded on any AEA operating region.
After a no-growth year in 2005, the air-freight market staged a
modest recovery with a plus 2.4%. Over three-quarters of the market
travelled either on the North Atlantic or to and from Asia, and
these two segments showed similar growth, at 2.6% and 2.9%
respectively.
Said AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus: "There are
some key messages in the figures. One of them, clearly, is that we
continue to deliver the product which the customer wants -- 11
million new passengers in Europe alone speaks for itself as a
resounding endorsement of the network airlines' business
model."
"Just as important, though, is the capacity growth, for the
second successive year held below 4.5%. We are not an industry in a
state of runaway expansion, as some commentators would claim. Load
factor improvements are a measure of the increasing efficiency with
which we use our resources. While we continue to be fully engaged
in meeting the environmental challenges facing the industry, we
continue to stress that traffic growth, taken in isolation, is a
misleading measure of the scale of those challenges."