Air passenger traffic up 7.1% in January

More people flying: Travellers wait in line at airline check-in counters at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. IATA says that January passenger seat capacity rose 5.6 resulting in a 1.1 percentage point increase in load factor to 78.8. – Bloomberg

PETALING JAYA: Global passenger traffic, as measured by revenue passenger km (RPKs), grew by 7.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) in January 2016 – ahead of the 2015 full-year growth rate of 6.5%.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said in a statement that January capacity rose 5.6%, resulting in a 1.1 percentage point increase in load factor to 78.8%. This was the highest load factor ever recorded for the first month of the year.