Demand for air travel accelerates in May: IATA

BERLIN - Global demand for air travel continued to rise in May, although there are storm clouds on the horizon, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Thursday.

Air passenger traffic in terms of revenue passenger kilometres rose 6.9 per cent in May, against a 5.7 percent increase recorded for April, IATA said in its monthly passenger data release. "The financial crisis in Greece and recent weakness in regional trade activity in Asia-Pacific have the potential to dampen performance in these markets in the coming months," IATA Director General Tony Tyler said in a statement.

IATA also said capacity increased more slowly than demand, by 6.5 per cent, leading to a 0.3 percentage point increase in the load factor, or how full planes are, to 79.3 per cent in the month.