International air traffic up 7 pct in May - IATA

GENEVA, June 30 (Reuters) International air passenger traffic rose 7 percent in May over the same month last year, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Friday.

Cross-border air freight, considered a prime indicator of the health of world trade, rose 5.1 percent in May on a year-on-year basis.

''Strong economies are supporting strong demand for both freight and passenger traffic,'' Giovanni Bisignani, who heads the group representing some 260 airlines, said in a statement.

''This positive demand environment is helping the global airline industry to offset some of the sharp increase in jet fuel prices,'' he said.

Though slower than the 9.9 percent year-on-year growth in international passenger traffic logged in April, a month whose data was skewed by the Easter holiday, IATA said May's 7 percent growth signalled ''a pick-up in the underlying growth rate''.

International freight traffic was slightly slower than April's 6.1 percent year-on-year rate, due mainly to lower volumes at troubled Brazilian carrier Varig that dragged down Latin American shipments, IATA said.

Overall, IATA said freight traffic looked set to ''at least double'' the 2005 growth rate, forecasting a 7 percent rise for the 2006 year.

Middle Eastern carriers, although from a much lower base, led the pack in both passenger and freight traffic in May, which were up 15.6 percent and 24.8 percent, respectively, over the same month in 2005.

North American passenger growth was 4.9 percent and freight 6.9 percent, for Europe the figures were 6.3 percent and 2.1 percent, and in the growing Pacific region passengers grew by 7.5 percent and freight by 4 percent.

Domestic air traffic is excluded from IATA's monthly data.

REUTERS SBA GC1539