GENEVA, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Global air passenger demand in March rose 3.1 percent, compared to the same month a year earlier, the slowest pace for any month in nine years, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Wednesday.
IATA said that the results were mostly due to the timing of the Easter holiday celebrated mainly in Europe, the Americas and Africa, which fell nearly a month later than in 2018.
"While traffic growth slowed considerably in March, we do not see the month as a bellwether for the rest of 2019," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's Director General and CEO.
He cautioned, however, that the economic backdrop has become "somewhat less favorable", citing a recently downward revision of the IMF's GDP outlook downward for a fourth time in the past year.
In the international passenger markets, Asia-Pacific airlines' traffic climbed 2.0 percent in March, compared to the same period the previous year, which was down from the 4 percent growth in February.
European carriers saw March demand increase 4.7 percent over March 2018, down from 7.5 percent annual growth in February. IATA said the Europe result partly reflects falling business confidence in the Eurozone and ongoing uncertainty about Brexit.
North American airlines posted a 3.0 percent traffic rise in March compared to the year-ago period, down somewhat from 4.2 percent year-on-year growth in February.
De Juniac said: "Despite March's slowdown, the outlook for air travel remains solid. Global connectivity has never been better."
"Consumers can choose from more than 21,000 city pair combinations on more than 125,000 daily flights. And airfares continue to decline in real terms."
