Corporate Travel News For The Americas

IATA released (06-Sep-2017) its statistics for international passenger demand for Jul-2017:

• Global: Traffic grew 6.8% year-on-year, while capacity climbed 5.5%, and load factor edged up 0.5 percentage points to 84.6%. Growth was a slow-down compared to the 7.6% growth recorded in Jun-2016;
• Europe: Traffic up 7.5%, down from 8.8% in Jun-2017. Capacity rose 5.9%, and load factor climbed 1.3 ppts to 88.7%, which was the highest among the regions. The economic backdrop in Europe has strengthened; however, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, the upward growth in travel demand has moderated sharply since Feb-2017;
• Asia Pacific: Traffic up 5.9%, a deceleration compared to Jun-2017 growth of 8.8%. As with Europe, carriers in the Asia Pacific region are seeing a slowing of demand growth. Capacity increased 6.7% and load factor slipped 0.6 ppts to 81.0%;
• Middle East: Traffic up 4.5%, an acceleration from the 3.6% in Jun-2017, but was still well off the region's five-year average pace of 11.2%. Capacity grew 3.6% and load factor rose 0.7 ppts to 81.5%. Middle East-North America market has been affected by a combination of factors in 2017, including the recently-lifted cabin ban on large portable electronic devices, as well as a wider impact from the proposed travel bans to the US. Traffic growth on the Middle East-US route was already slowing in early 2017, in line with a moderation in the pace of expansion of nonstop services by the largest Middle Eastern airlines;
• North America: Traffic up 3.5%, down from 4.4% growth in Jun-2017 but still ahead of the regional five-year average pace (2.9%). Capacity rose 3.8% and load factor slipped 0.3 ppts to 85.9%. Outbound travel is being supported by the relatively solid economic backdrop in North America, however, anecdotal evidence suggests that inbound demand is being negatively influenced by the additional security measures in place for travel to the US;
• Latin America: Traffic up 10.5%, the strongest growth among regions. Capacity increased 10% and load factor climbed 0.4 percentage points to 84.9%. International volumes between North and Central America continue to strongly trend upward while traffic on the North-South America market segment has also started to trend upwards, in part helped by the healthier, albeit still fragile, economic backdrop in Brazil;
• Africa: Traffic up 6.5%, down from 9.8% demand growth in Jun-2017. Capacity rose 1.7%, and load factor jumped 3.4 pppt to 74.1%. Conditions in the region's two largest economies continue to diverge, with South Africa in recession while business confidence levels are at a two-year peak in Nigeria. [more - original PR]

WOW air announced (06-Sep-2017) plans to launch seasonal three times weekly Reykjavik-Dallas/Fort Worth service from 24-May-2018, operating with Airbus A330-300 equipment. The carrier will be Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's 16th international airline partner. According to OAG, the carrier is the first operator on the route. [more - original PR]

South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) reported (06-Sep-2017) China overtook the US as the second largest market for inbound travel for the 12 months to Jun-2017. Chinese arrivals rose 56% to 56,000 and expenditure rose 74% to AUD352 million (USD282 million). The UK remained the largest market with 66,000 visits. US arrivals grew 13% to 54,000. Overall international visitors spent AUD1.1 billion (USD881 million) in the State for the period, an increase of 12%. [more - original PR]

Gold Coast Tourism chairman Paul Donovan reported (05-Sep-2017) tourism industry sentiment and confidence in the Gold Coast region "continues to grow ahead of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games", and recent figures released by Tourism Australia "indicate the international visitor trend largely driven by China - shows no signs of slowing down." Gold Coast international arrivals for the year to Jun-2017 were:

• China: 303,000, +7.3% year-on-year;
• New Zealand: 206,000, +5.4;
• UK: 70,000, +2.5%;
• Japan: 68,000, +19.5%;
• US: 41,000, +22.3. [more - original PR]

IATA reported (05-Sep-2017) global FTKs increased 11.4% year-on-year in Jul-2017, the fourth month of double digit growth in the last five months. All regions recorded robust growth and airfreight demand grew faster than air travel demand for the third consecutive month. Growth in Jul-2017 was nearly four times greater than the 10 year average rate of 3.1%. Demand growth continues to significantly outstrip capacity growth, which is positive for airline yields and the industry's financial performance. Growth in demand is consistent with an uptick in global trade, rising export orders and upbeat business confidence indicators, but IATA reported signs that demand growth may be nearing a peak. Seasonally adjusted airfreight volumes were flat in Jun-2017 and decreased in Jul-2017 and the global inventory to sales ratio has stabilised. IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac commented: "While the outlook for the rest of the year remains positive, there are signs that the cyclical growth period may be nearing a peak". IATA reported the following regional details for Jul-2017:

• Africa: 33.7% growth in volumes in Jul-2017 was the largest of all regions and the second fastest monthly rise in seven years. Demand was boosted by very strong growth on trade lanes to and from Asia, which increased 80% in Jun-2017 and 65% in 1H2017;
• Asia Pacific: Demand growth was robust on all major routes to, from and within the region. Seasonally adjusted international volumes fell slightly in Jul-2017 but remain more than 3% above volumes reached following the 2010 post global financial crisis recovery;
• Europe: Double digit growth in international demand was recorded in nine of the past 11 months, bolstered by strong demand in the Europe-Asia market. Export orders remain strong but recent strengthening of the euro may begin to weigh on exporters;
• Latin America: Seasonally adjusted international volumes grew strongly in Jul-2017, but remained 9% lower than the peak in 2014. The region continues to be impacted by challenging economic and political conditions, particularly in Brazil;
• Middle East: Seasonally adjusted international volumes maintained a solid upward trend. Middle East carriers are not seeing as strong a pickup in seasonally adjusted traffic as other regions' carriers due to strong competition, particularly in the Asia-Europe market;
• North America: Seasonally adjusted international volumes continued a strong upwards trend. The strength of the US dollar boosted the inbound market over the past few years. The US Census Bureau reported a 12.5% increase in air imports to the US in 1H2017. The decline in the US dollar since the start of 2017 is likely to help rebalance trade flows. [more - original PR]

LOT Polish Airlines reportedly plans to wet lease Boeing 777-200 aircraft from Privilege Style, for deployment on Warsaw Chopin-New York JFK service in Sep/Oct-2017 (Pasazer, 02-Sep-2017). The aircraft will be deployed on the route daily until 24-Oct-2017, according to OAG.

United Airlines announced (04-Sep-2017) plans to resume San Francisco-Auckland seasonal service on 31-Oct-2017, using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The carrier will operate the route six times weekly until 17-Dec-2017, before increasing frequency to daily until the season concludes on 24-Mar-2018. [more - original PR]

EgyptAir plans to increase Cairo-New York JFK frequency from five times weekly to daily, effective 13-Dec-2017 (Airline Route, 31-Aug-2017). The airline operates the service with Boeing 777-300ER equipment. The service is the only nonstop connection between Egypt and the US, according to OAG.

Auckland Airport reported (30-Aug-2017) strong growth in international passenger traffic on Asia and Middle East routes, up 26.8% year-on-year for Jul-2017. This was driven by new routes to China, Hong Kong and Qatar as well as Emirates up-gauging to A380 for its direct Dubai service. Meanwhile traffic on Americas routes decreased 3.3% due to seasonal capacity reduction by United Airlines' on San Francisco service. [more - original PR]

British Airways announced (30-Aug-2017) plans to launch the following trans Atlantic services from London Gatwick Airport for summer 2018:

• London Gatwick-Toronto: Three times weekly, effective 01-May-2018;
• London Gatwick-Las Vegas: Three times weekly, effective 27-Mar-2018;

British Airways also operates London Heathrow-Las Vegas service. British Airways will operate 21 trans Atlantic services from Gatwick over summer 2018. [more - original PR]