Domestic and cargo pick-up in March fail to offset international traffic gloom

A strong recovery in the large Chinese domestic market was the key driver for an improved global airline passenger traffic performance in March, though RPKs still remain two-thirds below pre-crisis levels. IATA figures for March show total passenger traffic as measured in RPKs was down 67.2% on the same month in 2019. Whilst still sharply below pre-crisis levels, it did at least mark an improvement on February figures - for which passenger traffic was down three-quarters on 2019 levels. IATA chief economist Brian Pearce noted the improvement in March figures reflects a lift in Chinese domestic traffic after briefly faltering early this year amid a rise in coronavirus cases in the country. ”We saw in March a sharp rebound in domestic air travel,” says Pearce. ”Essentially… as case numbers of coronavirus have been kept contained after a rise in the early months of the year, we have seen a full rebound above fourth quarter levels and we are expecting to see further growth in that market. The Chinese market has fully recovered from that very sharp fall in January and February. The other big [domestic] market is the US, [which] because of the very fast rollout of the vaccine programme, is also set to get back to full recovery in the second half.”<br/>