Air travel demand up in February, despite US travel restrictions

Global demand for air travel rose 4.8% in February, thanks to lower fares and improving economies, with no major impact from an attempted US travel ban, IATA said Thursday. Tourism bodies have warned that travel to the US could slow this year due to a perception that it is less welcoming to travellers than before. "Although we remain concerned over the impact of any travel restrictions or closing of borders, we have not seen the attempted US ban on travel from 6 countries translate into an identifiable traffic trend," IATA DG Alexandre de Juniac said. Middle Eastern carriers, among the most affected by the attempted travel restrictions, saw demand rise 9.5% in February. Overall, capacity in February increased 2.7%, leading to the load factor rising 1.6 percentage points to 79.5 %. <br/>