The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced global passenger traffic results for February showing a strengthening in demand growth compared to February 2014.

Total revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) rose 6.2%, which was an improvement on the January year-over-year increase of 4.5%. Monthly results were positively impacted by the Lunar New Year holiday which occurred in February this year, one month later than in 2014. February capacity (available seat kilometres or ASKs) increased by 5.6%, and load factor rose 0.5 percentage points to 78.5%.

Said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO: ‘Lunar New Year celebrations, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, certainly contributed to the robust February performance, but it is also clear that solid demand for connectivity is offsetting economic weakness in some regions including the Eurozone.’