The announced return to profit for the airlines will not result in a significant reduction in fares. As IATA observes, although the association is predicting a possible net profit of $9.8 billionshe complains that profitability remains extremely low per passenger. IATA puts it at US$2.2 in 2023. In other words, half the price of a café in Geneva!
IATA However, air traffic continues to rise. For 2023, the association believes that the number of revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) should reach 87.8 % of the 2019 level. This solid performance does not seem to have been affected by the difficult economic and political situation created by the continuing inflation and the international conflicts.
Asia back in force
All regions are seeing a gradual and widespread recovery, supported in particular by the upturn in air traffic in the Asia-Pacific region. The reopening of China has boosted traffic in Asia.
In the first quarter of 2023, passenger traffic on the continent soared to +74.2 %. Asia-Pacific carriers thus regained their dominant position in the first quarter of 2023. They once again represented 31.9 % of revenue passenger kilometres worldwide. Visit European and North American airlineswhose market share in RPK had reached 30.7% and 28.9% respectively in 2022, fell back this first quarter to 24.7 % and 25.1 %.
IATA remains extremely optimistic about the future of air transport, in a world that is, of course, carbon-free. The association believes that demand for air transport is set to double by 2040with an average annual growth rate of 3.4%. The number of origin-destination passengers is expected to rise from around 4 billion in 2019 to just over 8 billion in 15 years' time.
