Capacity grew slightly faster at 5.9 per cent, which pushed the average load factor down by half a percentage point to 79.6 per cent.

March performance shows a moderate slowdown on the year-on-year growth rates recorded in January (7.2 per cent) and February (8.6 per cent) even after adjusting for the leap-year impact in February.

Demand for international traffic grew significantly more quickly (6.2 per cent) than that for domestic travel (3.7 per cent).

Long-term trends

“While in line with long-term trends, demand growth in March represented a slowdown compared [with] January and February,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director-general and chief executive officer.

“It is premature to say whether this marks the end of the recent very strong results. We do expect further stimulus in the form of network expansion and declines in travel costs. However, the wider economic backdrop remains subdued.”

March international passenger demand rose 6.2 per cent compared with March 2015, which was a decline compared with the 9.1-per-cent increase in February. Airlines in all regions recorded growth. Total capacity climbed 6.9 per cent, causing load factor to slip 0.5 percentage point to 78.5 per cent.

Asia-Pacific airlines’ traffic rose 6 per cent in March compared with the year-ago period; however, capacity increased 7.8 per cent, which caused load factor to slide 1.3 percentage points to 77.4 per cent.

Key routes within Asia, across the Pacific and to the Middle East grew strongly in the opening months, although Asia-to-Europe routes lagged behind.