By IANS,
New Delhi : Global air passenger traffic grew by six percent in February compared to the like period of 2010, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Tuesday.
“Scheduled international traffic for February 2011 increased by 6.0 percent and 2.3 percent for passenger and cargo demand respectively compared to February 2010,” IATA said in a statement.
However, the February growth was down from the 8.4 percent and 8.7 percent in passenger and cargo segments recorded in January.
IATA attributed the slowdown between the two months due to the political unrest in the Middle East.
“The political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa during February is estimated to have cut international traffic by about one percent. As such it is responsible almost entirely for the slippage in passenger demand growth,” the statement said.
IATA further said that it sees a fall in the data for the international travel scenario due to the earthquake that ravaged Japan in early March.
“The tragic earthquake and its aftermath in Japan will most certainly see a further dampening of demand from March,” said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and chief executive of IATA.
He, however, noted that the industry’s fundamentals were in good shape.