Worldwide passenger demand up 2.8% in Oct 

(MENAFN) The International Air Transport Agency's (IATA) director general and CEO, Tony Tyler, said that in October, passenger traffic grew 2.8 percent globally from the same period a year ago, reported Arabian Business.

Tyler said that although passenger traffic posted a yearly gain in the month, however, it represented a drop of 0.5 percent from September.

He noted that capacity rose 2.3 percent on annual basis, while load factor edged up 0.4 percent, reaching 78.87 percent.

Tyler attributed the decline in month-on-month comparison to slowing world trade and sluggish business confidence; furthermore, Hurricane Sandy, which is estimated to have cost USD500 million in lost revenues, was a major factor in hurting US domestic and North Atlantic travel.

He added that the number of flights that were cancelled due to the hurricane reached around 17,000, while at the peak of the storm on October 29, between 8-9 percent of global capacity was grounded, which is equal to 1.6 billion available seat km.

On the other hand, global freight demand slipped 3.5 percent in October year-on-year and by 2.2 percent from September.

The load factor contracted to 46.1 percent from 46.7 percent in 2011's same period.