Willie Walsh travel tips

With busy airports, full flights and the ending of most travel restrictions, 2023 marked a return to travel, mostly as we knew it before the pandemic began. Nearly every peak travel period in 2023 broke air travel records, and it's showing no signs of slowing down. An estimated record-breaking 4.7 billion people are expected to travel in 2024, according to the International Air Transport Association.

You can expect to pay more for plane tickets this summer, as airline capacity struggles to keep up with demand.

From January to March, nearly every major U.S. airline raised fees on luggage.

For the first time, there were no hull losses or fatal accidents involving passenger jet aircraft in 2023.

Flying in Europe is at its safest level since records began, according to new research from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Willie Walsh, the Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has given his support to the leadership of the Boeing Co.

In 2024, more of us, apparently, are resolving to take more trips by air. Or at least that was how it was looking before two back-to-back in-flight incidents kicked off the start of the year: the Japan Airlines airplane that burst into flames after a runway collision, and the Alaska Airlines plug door blowing out that led to the global grounding of Boeing 737-9 Max planes.

Jointly created in 2012 by IATA and ARC, DDS is the world’s largest and most comprehensive global airline ticket dataset. It includes more than 15 billion passenger flights representing 490 airlines and 230 countries and territories.

IATA (International Air Transport Association) represents some 300 airlines comprising 83% of global air traffic.

The strong post-pandemic air travel boom continued across the globe this September, according to research conducted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), published November 9.

U.S. authorities are likely to retaliate against the Dutch government’s decision to cut flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, probably limiting slots for Dutch airline KLM at U.S. airports, airline lobby group IATA said on Tuesday.

Amid all the recent headlines about aviation safety lapses and a troubling rise in close calls, it’s easy to forget that commercial air travel has never been safer.

The Middle East is leading international travel recovery in the fourth quarter as inbound arrivals to the region witnessed an increase of 4 percent, long ahead of the global average of a decrease of 30 percent, according to travel analytics firm ForwardKeys. “The FIFA World Cup is certainly the key driver for its travel recovery,” said Juan Gomez, head of market intelligence at ForwardKeys. The latest air ticketing data by ForwardKeys also shows that international arrival levels may be back to normal in 2023, with travel to the Middle East up by 15 percent on pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter. Overall, the outlook for 2023 looks promising, despite high inflation in key source markets and the looming recession, FowardKeys noted. The Middle East is also attracting more premium travellers than in 2019, the travel analytics firm noted with Saudi Arabia showing the greatest growth. Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon are also showing growth, with a regional average of 11  percent above 2019.

The airline industry plans to invoke EU rights to freedom of movement to push back against environmental restrictions on short-haul flights, officials in the sector said, following a partial ban in France approved by Brussels in December.

American comedian and actor Kevin Hart is a man on a mission as he is looking to hire an ambassador for Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island. Hart, who was appointed Yas Island’s first-ever chief island officer in May, announced the job opening on social media on Monday, calling it the “world’s best job.” The salary being offered for the two-month role is $100,000. Anyone aged 21 years or above can apply for the job, the last date for receiving entries is January 23. “No CV, previous experience or cover letter needed, just your video up to 60 seconds (videos over 60 seconds will be disqualified),” the website mentioned. Once hired, the ambassador will take part in a variety of tourism activities for Yas Island while being put up at the W Abu Dhabi for 60 days. Yas Island has also made all the video applications public in its website.

Dubai received 14.36 million international overnight visitors in 2022, growing 97 percent year-on-year from the 7.28 million tourist arrivals in 2021, according to the latest data published by Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism. In 2019, the city had welcomed a record 16.73 million international overnight visitors. The strong performance in 2022 features some noteworthy spikes in Dubai’s traditional key markets and strong growth across emerging markets. Dubai remained a first-choice safe travel destination for visitors from the city’s stronghold markets. Western Europe and Gulf regions each accounted for a 21 percent share of arrivals. The Gulf region in particular saw an exponential increase in their share of arrivals from 13 percent in 2021 to 21 percent last year. South Asia contributed 17 percent of total volumes while the Middle East and North Africa region contributed 12 percent, further reinforcing Dubai’s continued appeal to travelers from proximity markets. The Americas accounted for seven percent of arrivals while North Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa each contributed five percent and Australasia accounted for two percent.

Many airlines will be unable to meet looming U.S. deadlines to retrofit airplane altimeters to ensure they are not susceptible to 5G wireless interference, the world’s biggest airline trade body warned authorities, saying it could impact the summer international travel season.

Global airline capacity will be lower than expected this year and stay constrained until 2025 at the earliest, warned IATA director general Willie Walsh, due to delays in new aircraft deliveries and a lack of availability of spare parts.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, June 9. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

India’s domestic air passenger traffic was strong in May – 15 percent higher than a year earlier and 8 percent higher than pre-Covid levels, according to ICRA’s monthly report on the country’s aviation industry. The traffic was estimated at 13.18 million for May, 2.3 percent up from April. The growth in traffic comes even as cash-strapped airline Go First suspended its flights on May 3 and is yet to restart operations.Airlines’ capacity was higher by about 1.4 percent. The international passenger traffic for Indian carriers for the financial year 2023 stood at approximately 23.94 million, improving from the pre-Covid levels of about 22.72 million. 

India is a big potential market for aviation, but not a cheap one due to the high taxes, said International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Director General Willie Walsh.