IATA Reports Increase in Airline Traffic

August 5, 2003

IATA Reports Increase in Airline Traffic
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released news yesterday that airline traffic picked up sharply in June but remains sluggish overall due to SARS and other recent world events.

According to a report from CNN.com and news from IATA, international air traffic was down by 11.8 percent over June 2002. Asia experienced a significant drop of 35.8 percent, the worst among all regions surveyed. For the first half of 2003, overall airline passenger traffic is 7.1 percent below levels of 2002.

"The industry turned the corner in June," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the IATA. "Although we are still well below where we were at the same time last year, travelers are returning."

For more on this story, turn to IATA.org.