IATA sees passengers increase

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released data showing a promising start to the year's passenger figures.

The number of passengers travelling by air in January increased by 6.2 per cent on January 2005, nearly keeping pace with 2005's overall growth rate of 7.6 per cent.

Especially notable was the 18.3 per cent rise in passengers flying in the Middle East, whose share of the global market has expanded by over ten per cent for 29 of the past 31 months.

"This is the first time in a year we have seen two consecutive months of freight traffic growth above five per cent, which points to a resurgent world economy," commented Giovanni Bisignani, the IATA chief executive.

"We are filling the planes-and with high load factors-but there is a lot to do before the industry's balance sheet recovers."

The aviation industry is currently resisting calls by the French president Jacques Chirac for an airline tax to help fund global development.

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