Air passenger traffic up 9,freight 23

International air traffic for July 2010 showed continued strengthening of demand for both passenger and cargo traffic compared to July 2009,according to the International Air Transport Association IATA. International passenger demand was up 9.2 per cent while world scheduled freight traffic showed a 22.7 per cent improvement,the IATA said.

However,the traffic and cargo growth lagged behind when compared to the previous month of June,which had reported 11.6 per cent and 26.6 per cent increases for passenger and cargo traffic respectively. The slowdown resulted as traffic started to recover by July 2009. After adjusting for seasonality,the improvement in demand was faster month-to-month in July than it was in June, IATA said.

During the second half of 2009,demand was rebounding at an annualised rate of 12 per cent for passenger and 28 per cent for cargo. In the first half of this year,the annualised growth rates had dropped to 8 per cent for passenger and 17 per cent for air freight. However,this is still considerably above the industrys traditional 6 per cent growth trend.

The recovery in demand has been faster than anticipated. But as we look towards the end of the year,the pace of the recovery is likely to slow down. The jobless economic recovery is keeping consumer confidence fragile,particularly in North America and Europe. This is affecting leisure markets and cargo traffic.