Aviation
THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released the performance figures for global air travel – known as World Air Transport Statistics (WATS) – showing that about 4.4 billion passengers were transported world over by airlines in 2018. IATA said the figure was an increase of 6.9 per cent over the performance 2017, and that it represented an additional 284 million trips by air.
In Africa, the IATA WATS indicated that 92 million passengers were carried by airlines in 2018. The figure represents a 5.5 per cent increase over the 2017 performance, and it also means that Africa controls about 2.1 per cent of the global air transport market share.
However, airlines in the Asia-Pacific region once again carried the largest number of passengers (1.6billion) on scheduled services systemwide, according to the IATA data.
The IATA data also revealed that the top five nationalities travelling (international routes) are: United Kingdom (126.2 million, or 8.6 per cent of all passengers in 2018); United States (111.5 million, or 7.6 per cent of all passengers); People’s Republic of China (97 million, or 6.6 per cent of all passengers); Germany (94.3 million, or 6.4 per cent of all passengers); and France (59.8 million, or 4.1 per cent of all passengers).
The data was released by IATA’s Director General and CEO, Mr Alexandre de Juniac, who said the real cost of air transport has more than halved over the last 20 years (to around 78 US cents per revenue tonne-kilometer, or RTK).
The data also stated that the top five international/regional passenger airports were all within the Asia-Pacific region again for 2018: Hong Kong – Taipei Taoyuan (5.4 million, down 0.4 per cent from 2017); Bangkok Suvarnabhumi – Hong Kong (3.4 million, increased 8.8 per cent from 2017); Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta – Singapore Changi (3.2 million, decreased 3.3 per cent from 2017); Seoul-Incheon – Osaka-Kansai (2.9 million, an increase of 16.5 per cent from 2017); and Kuala Lumpur–International – Singapore Changi (2.8 million, up 2.1 per cent from 2017).
IATA also said the top five airlines ranked by the total scheduled passengers that they have flown in their history,were: American Airlines (330.6 billion passengers); Delta Air Lines (330 billion); United Airlines (329.6 billion); Emirates (302.3 billion); and Southwest Airlines (214.6 billion).
“Airlines are connecting more people and places than ever before. The freedom to fly is more accessible than ever and our world is a more prosperous place as a result,” said Alexandre de Juniac.
“As with any human activity this comes with an environmental cost that airlines are committed to reducing. We understand that sustainability is essential to our license to spread aviation’s benefits. “From 2020 we will cap net carbon emissions growth. And, by 2050, we will cut our net carbon footprint to half 2005 levels. This ambitious climate action goal needs government support. It is critical for sustainable aviation fuels, new technology and more efficient routes to deliver the greener future we are aiming for,” added Alexandre de Juniac. – The Sun
– July 31, 2019 14:15 GMT
Tags: Aviation: 4.4 billion passengers flew globally in 2018 – IATA
