The Sydney, Australia-based International Air Transport Association announced that while there has been continued strengthening of demand for passenger and cargo traffic, the global economic recovery has entered into a slower phase.

“The recovery in demand has been faster than anticipated,” Giovanni Bisignan, IATA’s director general and CEO, said in a press release. “But, as we look towards the end of the year, the pace of the recovery will likely slow.”

He also said that the jobless recovery was keeping consumer confidence, particularly in North America and Europe, low, affecting leisure markets and cargo traffic.

“Following the boost of cargo demand from inventory re-stocking, further growth will be largely determined by consumer spending which remains weak,” he added.

International passenger demand was up 9.2 percent in July in comparison to July 2009 and freight traffic showed a comparative improvement of 22.7 percent.

During the second half of last year demand was rebounding at an annualized rate of 12 percent for passenger demand and 28 percent for cargo. For the first half of 2010, however, annualized growth rates for passenger traffic fell to 8 percent and 17 percent for air freight.

According to the association, European carriers have shown weak cargo growth of 12.1 percent in July, less than half the 25.3 percent increase by Asia-Pacific carriers or the 27.1 percent growth recorded by North American carriers.

On the passenger side, Middle Eastern carriers continued to add the largest amount of capacity, 12.8 percent in July and 13.2 percent over the first seven months of the year.

Latin American carriers also outperformed the global average with passenger growth of 14.2 percent in July and 10.9 percent growth for the first seven months of the year.

The association also said that African airlines are benefiting significantly from the economic and travel upturn, outperforming the industry with 13 percent growing in passenger demand in July and remaining consistent with the year-to-date improvement of 13.1 percent.

In comparison, North American carriers recorded a 7.9 improvement in passenger demand in July over the same month in 2009. The association predicts that they will return to profitability this year.

Europe’s slow start in the recovery process has seen it deliver the weakest passenger demand performance among all the regions over the first several months of the year with an increase of only 3.6 percent.

For more information about the association, go to www.iata.org

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