The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has communicated the data resulting from the monitoring of world air traffic for the month of March 2023. These show a strong increase in the demand for air travel, with a global traffic volume that reached on average 88% of what was recorded in March 2019, with a load factor (81.3%) even higher than +10.1%. The numbers confirm the positive trend from last year.

“Domestic markets have been close to pre-pandemic levels for months. For international travel, two key points have been exceeded. First, demand was up +3.5 percentage points from the previous month's growth, reaching l 81.6% of pre-covid levels", explained Willie Walsh, IATA director general.

“This was driven by nearly tripling demand from Asia-Pacific carriers as China reopened. And efficiency is improving as international load factors hit 81.3%. More importantly, ticket sales for domestic and international travel indicate that strong growth will continue into the Northern Hemisphere Summer season".

In March 2023 total traffic (passenger kilometre) increased by +52.4% compared to March 2022. Globally, while on national routes in March it increased by +34.1% compared to the same period of the year previous year, reaching a capacity of 98.9% compared to March 2019, before the pandemic. On international routes, on the other hand, the increase is equal to +68.9% compared to March 2022, reaching a capacity of 81.6% compared to pre-pandemic levels.