Fears that the premium travel rebound was slowing following weak August results were eased in September. IATA reports that premium traffic grew by 12.1% year-over-year, compared to 6.2% in August.
IATA says that it was concerned that business travel drivers were stalling, but now says business confidence and trade have resumed a positive growth trend. Despite the improvement, premium travel still remains below pre-recession levels.
While economy travel numbers are growing more slowly than premium, with levels 9.3% higher than a year ago in September, IATA points out that they are now well above pre-recession levels.
The IATA numbers reveal large geographical discrepancies in both premium and economy travel, with Far and Middle Eastern markets strongest, while transatlantic traffic continues to be relatively weak.
The organization predicts that year-on-year growth rates will slow over the next few months, as markets rose sharply during this time last year, but the extent of the slowdown in Q4 now looks less than feared.
