Global passenger traffic for April dropped an unprecedented 18.5% compared with the same month in 2002, according to International Air Transport Association preliminary figures. Particularly hard-hit by SARS fears, Asia-Pacific carriers saw their passenger loads drop 44.8%, reports IATA, and since they had only lowered their available seat kilometres by 12.6%, their average load factor fell to 48%, a drop of 28%. North American carriers' revenue passenger kilometres crashed 23.5%, affected by a combination of SARS and the Iraq war, whereas European carriers saw a far less dramatic passenger traffic fall of 4.8%.
Source: Flight International
