GENEVA — The world’s airlines continued to post strong growth in air travel demand for both domestic and international traffic, according to IATA.

Total revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) rose 7.1% compared to the year-ago period. August capacity (available seat kilometres or ASKs) increased by 5.9%, and load factor rose 0.9 percentage points to a record 84.7%.

“August results continue the trend of strong demand for air travel, despite some softening in global economic growth, particularly in emerging markets,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

“Airlines are committed to meeting growing demand sustainably. The record high load factor of 84.7% is a great indicator of improved efficienc – a 17 percentage point increase over the industry’s performance a decade ago. This is just one indicator of the aviation industry’s determination to achieve carbon neutral growth from 2020,” said Tyler.

IATA this week was among the signatories at the Global Sustainable Aviation Summit of an open letter from the industry to governments. The industry called on governments to agree on the implementation of a simple, global offsetting scheme that will stabilize air transport carbon emissions, and to endorse a global CO2 standard for new aircraft.