The latest data from ForwardKeys has revealed growth in international air travel, as measured by passenger journeys, grew by 4.5 per cent last year.
That is healthily ahead of global economic growth, but it is significantly slower growth than in 2018, when growth of six per cent was recorded.
It is also slower than the trend over the last decade, which averages 6.8 per cent per annum.
However, the outlook for the coming three months is considerably more optimistic, with international flight bookings as at January 1st standing 8.3 per cent ahead of where they were at the start of 2019.
Olivier Ponti, vice president, insights, ForwardKeys, commented: “Usually, aviation grows around three percentage points ahead of global GDP.
“However, in the past year, we have seen several events which have held back growth; these include US trade disputes with Canada, China, Mexico and the EU, riots in Chile, France, Hong Kong and India, the grounding of the relatively new Boeing 737 Max aircraft, terrorism in Sri Lanka, the emergence of ‘flight shaming’ and the bankruptcy of Jet Airways.”
While air travel grew in most parts of the world in 2019, there was a notable exception; international departures from the Middle East were down by 2.4 per…
