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April 2022 IATA Air Passenger Market Analysis 
Published June 9, 2022. IATA Economic Reports.

Passenger traffic recovery continues


Highlights

  • International revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) drive the global industry’s recovery in April 2022. Several route areas are above pre-pandemic levels, and the global international market reports a 331.9% YoY growth.
  • New flexible entry conditions in previously travel-restricted Asian countries allow for foreign travelers to come in, fostering higher growth rates in the region. However, the divergence in the pace of the recovery between Asia Pacific and other markets persists.
  • Omicron still impacts domestic air travel overall. The decline in China PR has deepened as strict travel restrictions limit air travel in, to and from the country. There global domestic RPKs fell by 1.0% YoY in April.
  • Inflation, high jet fuel prices, and low consumer confidence are points of concern for the coming months, but international bookings nevertheless show a high willingness to travel abroad - a positive trend expected to last throughout this summer

Africa's passenger numbers up 116.2% YOY growth
Airlines based in Africa saw a 116.2% YoY growth rate in their international RPKs in April. This region is further behind on the path of recovery since vaccination rates are much lower than in other regions. International RPKs are down 42.5% compared to pre-pandemic levels which is nevertheless a 1.7% improvement since March 2022.


Global RPKs continue to increase in April

The industry has resumed its strong recovery trend in spite of the war in Ukraine and travel restrictions in China PR. In April 2022, industry-wide revenue passengerkilometers (RPKs) grew by 78.7% YoY. Air passenger volumes are now 37.2% below pre-pandemic 2019 levels, which represents a 3.8% increase since last month. Seasonally adjusted data confirms the industry-wide improvement with a 2.5% month-onmonth (MoM) increase. Despite remaining travel restrictions in Asia Pacific and its regional impacts, the global industry continues to recover.


Domestic air travel is resilient globally while the decline endures in China

Although certain domestic markets have seen a sharp increase in RPKs year-on-year, industry-wide they decreased by 2.6% MoM and by 1.0% YoY in April to 25.8% below 2019 levels. Lingering strict travel restrictions in China brought that country’s domestic RPKs to a steep decline of 80.8% YoY in April. Capacity and load factors also pursued their decline in China...Download the full report.