JET FUEL: North American Air Passenger Demand up 3.4% in Jan: IATA

Full-year North American traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), rose 3.4% January year-on-year, according to IATA, the slowest proportional growth of any region although rising from a higher base.

• Total capacity in North America, measured in available seat kilometres (ASK), was up 2.1%, compared to the global average of 7.1%.
• The overall load factor reached 80.5%, up 1 percentage point on the year. North America has the third lowest load factor of any region apart from Europe and Africa.
• Looking at the domestic US market, which accounted for 14.4% of global RPKs in January, traffic was up by 3.0% on the year.
• Domestic US capacity was up 2.6%, while the load factor reached 79.6%, a 0.3 percentage point increase on the year.
• Low costs carriers saw stronger activity this month, IATA said.