Global air travel grew by a very healthy 5.9 per cent in 2018, according to data just published by ForwardKeys, which predicts future travel patterns by analysing 17 million booking transactions a day and other aviation data.
Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys, said: “The Travel & Tourism industry continues to grow strongly, outstripping the growth in global GDP, enhancing prosperity and creating jobs.” Highlighting the need to improve the travel experience for passengers and to better manage capacity, he continued: “Yet another year of strong growth in air travel will put pressure on governments worldwide to invest in infrastructure to better manage the consumer’s growing appetite to travel.”
Whilst air travel grew in nearly every part of the world, there were substantial regional variations. Growth in Asia Pacific, at 9.6%, was more than three times stronger than the weakest performer, the Middle East, where flight departures grew by 2.8%. The second-best performing region was Europe, where air travel grew by 5.8%. Flight departures from Africa grew by 5.2% and from the Americas by 4.4%.