Airlines fill record number of seats, traffic soars: IATA

World airline traffic expanded by 6.8 percent in August, enabling the industry to match an all-time record of 83.4 percent of seats filled, the International Air Transport Association said on Wednesday.
"August was a positive month for passenger travel," IATA chief Tony Tyler said in a statement, pointing out that the overall passenger load factor, or percentage of seats filled, matched a record set in July 2011.
Passenger demand that month was up 6.8 percent year-on-year, with strong growth across all markets, but especially in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.
"The solid performance was also supported by a stabilisation of emerging market weakness and renewed confidence in Europe and North America," Tyler pointed out. Traffic on international routes was up 7.5 percent in August while demand for domestic travel was up 5.6 percent.
Read news in full 02/10/13 AFP/Economic Times