World Air Traffic Soared 10.8 Percent in October

International air traffic of passengers flew up a strong 10.8 percent in October compared to the same month a year ago, the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) informed this week.

The Montreal-based organization also reported a staggering 16.9 percent increase in the first ten months of 2004.

IATA Director Giovanni Bisignani said that regardless of “a negative economic environment and heightened uncertainty about fluctuating oil prices, the international air traffic is shooting up at a dead heat pace.”

In spite of this upsurge in terms of passengers and cargo volumes, the world’s top airlines will lose more than $4 billion in 2004, Mr. Bisignani pointed out.

A sinking greenback, on the other hand, is putting a different spin on the aviation industry in the short haul. The timing couldn’t be any better because larger hordes of tourists are interested now in visiting the U.S. at a moment when American low-cost carriers are flexing their muscles in the domestic market.

In North America alone, passenger traffic climbed 12.1 percent in October. South of the border that increment peaked 14.3 percent. Europe and the Asian-Pacific Rim, for their parts, clicked 7.7 and 12.4 percent, respectively.