The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said that demand in 2010 for international scheduled air traffic and freight have shown a marked improvement.

Air traffic has shown an 8.2 per cent increase in the passenger business and there has been a 20.6 per cent increase in freight. Demand outstripped capacity increases of 4.4 per cent for passenger and 8.9 per cent for cargo, IATA said.

Average passenger load factor was 78.4 per cent, which was a 2.7 percentage point improvement from 2009, while a 5.2 percentage point improvement to 53.8 per cent was recorded on the freight load factor.

“Compared to the pre-recession levels of early 2008, December air travel volumes were four per cent higher,” IATA said.