Airlines record strong demand and high load factors

New Delhi, June 1 (UNI) The International Air Transport Association (IATA) today released international traffic data for January to April, showing 6.9 per cent growth in passenger demand and 5.7 per cent growth for freight over the same period in 2005.

Load factors for the first four months of 2006 achieved an average of 74.8 per cent.

''Strong economies are supporting strong demand growth for both freight and passenger traffic,'' said IATA's director general and CEO Giovanni Bisignani.

''Even with the high price of oil and rising interest rates, there is no apparent drop in demand and carriers are responding with careful capacity management that saw the April load factors reach their highest point -- 76.5 per cent -- in the past decade.'' April growth was particularly strong due to the impact of a late Easter holiday.

Passenger traffic grew by 9.9 per cent over the previous April while capacity expanded by only 5.5 per cent, driving load factors to 76.5 per cent.

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