IATA's latest passenger statistics show a moderating of declining demand in both premium and economy travel, but airline yields are still suffering.
The association estimates that year-over-year in June economy passengers fell by 5.5% compared with 7.6% in May. IATA also saw a moderation of falling premium demand to 21.3% in June versus 23.6% in May.
"The number of passengers travelling on economy tickets has shown signs of reaching a floor since March," IATA explains. "But until June that seemed largely due to business travellers switching from premium to economy seats, rather than an underlying stabilisation of demand."
IATA reasons some of the levelling off in declining demand is "party being achieved at the expense of much lower yields, as airlines seek to boost cash flow by making more cheaper seats available". It estimates revenues for premium travel fell roughly 33% in the first quarter and during the second quarter those revenues continued to fall at a rate of close to 40% in June.
Another caution issued by IATA is not all geographical regions posted a stabilising of passenger traffic. Some key Asian markets saw a further deterioration in June. IATA reasons since economies are improving in many Asian countries, the continued weakened demand is due to concerns over the H1N1 virus.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
