Domestic traffic for February rose 25.2% compared to the year-ago period. Total February 2023 domestic traffic was at 97.2% of the February 2019 level.

Japan’s domestic traffic surged 161.4% in February compared to a year ago and now stands at 89.9% of pre-pandemic levels.

US airlines’ domestic demand rose 10.6% in February and was 0.7% ahead of February 2019 levels.

International traffic climbed 89.7% versus February 2022 with all markets recording strong growth, led once again by carriers in the Asia-Pacific region. International RPKs reached 77.5% of February 2019 levels.

‘Despite the uncertain economic signals, demand for air travel continues to be strong across the globe and particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The industry is now just about 15% below 2019 levels of demand and that gap is narrowing each month,’ says Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general.

Asia-Pacific airlines had a 378.7% increase in February 2023 traffic compared to February 2022, maintaining the very positive momentum of the past few months since the lifting of travel restrictions in the region. Capacity rose 176.4% and the load factor increased 34.9 percentage points to 82.5%, the second highest among the regions.

‘People are flying in ever greater numbers. With the Easter and Passover holidays we are expecting large numbers of travellers to take to the skies in many parts of the world,’ says Walsh.