Worldwide passenger traffic grew 7.6% in 2017, outpacing the 10-year average annual growth rate of 5.5%, as passengers responded to an overall improvement in the global economy and lower airfares, according to IATA’s Air Passenger Market Analysis for Dec 2017, released Feb 1. Global passenger capacity was up 6.3% for the full year, producing an 81.4% total market passenger load factor, up 0.9 point from 2016. December passenger traffic moderated, however, with a 6.2% year-over-year rise in traffic, the slowest growth rate in 3 months. IATA forecast passenger traffic growth in 2018 will continue to be above trend, but will nonetheless be slightly slower than 2017. Traffic growth should continue to be in the 7.5% to 8% region during early 2018. <br/>
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Boeing is wooing Embraer with a plan to form a commercial-jet venture instead of an outright acquisition, people familiar with the talks said. The two planemakers have made good progress on the framework for a deal, but hurdles remain and the final terms are still being hammered out, said one of the people. While another person said Boeing presented a plan Thursday, Embraer said Friday that it had yet to receive a proposal — while confirming that talks were ongoing and possibilities include the creation of new companies. It’s not clear whether a jointly operated company would encompass all or part of Embraer’s commercial-aircraft unit. Embraer’s military business would be excluded, potentially resolving the Brazilian govt’s concerns over national interests. <br/>
Britain's Civil Aviation Authority said Saturday it was beginning a review into airlines' seating policies, including whether some operators were deliberating splitting up groups of passengers travelling together. Some customers have complained that they have been seated away from their friends or family in order to force them to pay extra for allocated seating. "We will be looking into how airlines decide where to seat passengers that have booked as part of a group and whether any airlines are pro-actively splitting up groups of passengers when, in fact, they could be sat together," said CAA CE Andrew Haines. "We will not hesitate to take any necessary enforcement action should it be required at the end of the review." <br/>
The rapid growth of mainland Chinese carriers and the entry of many budget operators has meant billions of dollars in orders for the aircraft makers. At the Singapore Airshow starting Monday, top officials from Airbus CE Tom Enders to Boeing’s VP of marketing Randy Tinseth are due to outline their plans to capture that boom. “There’s a huge market there,” said one analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence in Singapore. While airlines are looking for a balance between growth and profitability, “penetration is the name of the game right now. That’s what they will do for the next 5 to 7 years,” he said. Asia Pacific is likely to have 3.5b passengers by 2036, adding more than double the forecast for North America and Europe combined, according to estimates by the IATA. <br/>