The International Air Transport Association (IATA) published the 58th edition of the World Air Transport Statistics (WATS), a leading yearbook of the airline industry"™s annual performance containing extensive statistical information and analysis.
"Commercial aviation began 100 years ago with a single airplane, a single passenger and a single route. Last year, as recorded in the WATS, the industry carried more than 3 billion passengers and nearly 48 million tonnes of cargo on nearly 100,000 flights per day, while the real price of air travel fell by 7.4%. Aviation"™s annual contribution exceeds even these impressive figures. Its global economic impact is estimated at $2.4 trillion and it supports 3.4% of global GDP. By value, over a third of goods traded internationally are delivered by air and some 58.1 million jobs are supported by aviation," said Tony Tyler, IATA"™s Director General and CEO.
Snapshot of 2013 industry performance:
Passenger
"¢ System-wide, airlines carried 3.129 billion passengers on scheduled services, an increase of 5.1% over 2012.
"¢ Airlines in the Asia-Pacific region carried the largest number of passengers of any region. The regional ranking (based on total passengers carried on scheduled services by airlines registered in that region) is:
1. Asia-Pacific (1.012 billion passengers, an increase of 9.3%)
2. Europe (825.9 million passengers, up 3.4% over 2012)
3. North America (818.9 million, up 0.7% over 2012)
4. Latin America and the Caribbean (240.5 million, up 7.6% )
5. Middle East (157.9 million, an increase of 8.8%)
6. Africa (73.8 million, 5.6% up over 2012).
"¢ The top countries by region based on passengers carried (total both-ways, international and domestic) were:
1. Africa: South Africa (20.4 million, a decline of 0.1% compared to 2012)
2. Asia-Pacific: People"™s Republic of China (404.2 million, an increase of 11.8%)
3. Europe: United Kingdom (177.9 million, up 3.7% over 2012)
4. Latin America and Caribbean: Brazil (92.9 million, an increase of 4.5% over 2012
5. Middle East: United Arab Emirates (45.3 million, an increase of 11.7%),
6. North America: United States (618.1 million, an increase of 3.3% over 2012.)
"¢ The United States is still the largest single air market in the world, in terms of total two-way traffic, international and domestic.
"¢ The top five airlines ranked by total scheduled passengers carried were:
1. Delta Air Lines (120.6 million)
2. Southwest Airlines (115.3 million)
3. China Southern Airlines (91.5 million)
4. United Airlines (90.2 million)
5. American Airlines (86.8 million)
"¢ The top three city-pairs based on passengers carried on international routes were:
1. Hong Kong-Chinese Taipei (4.9 million, down 11.5%)
2. Dublin-London (3.6 million, up 6.9%)
3. Jakarta-Singapore (3.4 million, up 8.6%)
"¢ The top three city-pairs based on passengers carried on domestic routes were:
1. Jeju Seoul (9.58 million, up 1.4% over 2012)
2. Sapporo-Tokyo (9.17 million, up 4.7%)
3. Fukuoka-Tokyo (8.34 million, up 9.3%)
Cargo
"¢ Globally, cargo experienced weak growth with freight tonne kilometers up only 1.8% compared to 2012. However, this represents a reversal of the 1.1% shrinkage over 2011.
"¢ The top five airlines ranked by total scheduled freight tonnes carried were:
1. Federal Express (7.1 million)
2. UPS Airlines (4.1 million)
3. Emirates (2.1 million)
4. Korean Air (1.4 million)
5. Cathay Pacific Airways (1.3 million)
Consumer and Business
"¢ Airlines added over 1,100 direct airport-pair services and 600,000 frequencies in 2013, for a new total of 50,000 direct airport-pair services and 31.5 million frequencies.
"¢ The price of air travel in real terms fell by 7.4% compared to 2012
"¢ The cost of shipping goods by air in real terms fell 7.1%
Fuel
"¢ Fuel consumption represents about 2% of all fossil fuels burned worldwide for all purposes, or about 12% of the total amount of fossil fuels consumed by all transportation. The average price of jet fuel in 2013 decreased by 3.9% compared to 2012.
"¢ Total estimated cost of fuel was $210 billion or 31% of airline operating costs.
"¢ Between 2005 and 2013, fuel efficiency improved by 11%.
Airline Alliances
"¢ Star Alliance maintained its position as the largest airline alliance in 2013 with 26.6% of total scheduled traffic (in revenue passenger kilometers), followed by SkyTeam (20.1%) and oneworld (15.4%).
