The global recovery in air passenger traffic advanced at a tepid pace through September, with the number of customers travelling internationally falling back slightly, according to IATA's latest market update. The association recorded slight overall gains in passenger numbers, most of which stemmed from a recovery in domestic travel, particularly in China. "September’s performance is a positive development but recovery in international traffic remains stalled amid continuing border closures and quarantine mandates," says IATA director general Willie Walsh. "The recent US policy change to reopen travel from 33 markets for fully vaccinated foreigners from 8 November is a welcome, if long overdue, development." He adds that reopening of markets in Australia, Argentina, Thailand and Singapore would likewise give the industry a boost. Total demand for air travel in September 2021, as measured in revenue passenger kilometres, was down 53.4% compared to September 2019. This marks an slight uptick from August, when demand was 56% below two-years earlier. Domestic markets were down 24.3% compared to September 2019, compared to a fall of 32.6% in August. International passenger demand in September was 69.2% below September 2019, fractionally worse than the 68.7% decline recorded in August. Walsh comments that supply and demand in the passenger segment is "reasonably balanced", with airlines restoring capacity slightly faster than demand is returning. "The big issue is the pressure on cost bases", he continues, principally relating to fuel. "Higher crude will have an impact on pricing… but I don't think it will stall the recovery." In his view the impact should be felt relatively equally across airlines, and therefore would not lead to distortions in the market. Walsh also renewed his recent criticism of airports for seeking to raise their charges. Responding to a question about whether IATA would resort to legal action to stop them, he said: "Where we can take action we certainly will, in combination with our local members." Turning to an attempt by London Heathrow's operator to increase its charges, action that it is seeking permission to do from the Civil Aviation Authority, Walsh described the move as "outrageous" and says it "has to be resisted". He adds that he is scheduled to speak with the CAA on the issue later today. IATA's update also included data on the air freight market, where global demand as measured in cargo tonne-kilometres was up 9.1% compared to September 2019. Meanwhile, capacity was constrained at 8.9% below pre-Covid levels. Air freight demand has risen as manufacturers turn to the sector to recover lost time due to supply chain disruption, IATA notes. At the same time, the cost of air cargo became more competitive because of price increases for seaborne freight. IATA says that while the average price of air cargo was 12.5 times higher than sea shipping before the crisis, it was only three times higher in September.

Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss posted an adjusted EBIT profit of Swfr 6.7 million ($7.4 million) in the third quarter, rebounding from an EBIT loss of Swfr 148 million during the same period last year. Total revenue increased 91% year on year to Swfr 708 million from Swfr 371 million in the third quarter of 2020, the flag carrier says. Swiss chief financial officer Markus Binkert states: “We were able to both sell our increased capacities and further lower our costs over the summer months. But our third-quarter earnings result is still substantially below its pre-crisis levels.” Load factor for the third quarter amounted to 66%, on capacity that was at 55% of its pre-crisis level, Swiss notes. Swiss carried 3.7 million passengers in the first nine months of 2021, down 15% year on year. Capacity, as measured in available seat-kilometres, was down 3%, while revenue passenger-kilometres fell by 24%. The nine-month seat load factor stood at 51%, 14 percentage points below its prior-year level.

Thai Airways International plans to halve its current fleet of 116 aircraft and reduce its workforce as part of its restructuring. Thai says that it plans to sell 42 aircraft and terminate the lease and hire purchase contracts for 16 aircraft. The 42 aircraft comprise three Airbus A330-300's, two A380's, two Boeing 777-200ER's, six Boeing 777-200's, six 777-300's, one A300-600, three A340-500s, six A340-600s, three Boeing 737-400, and 10 Boeing 747-400. The 16 leased aircraft to be cancelled comprise 12 A330-300's and four A380's. Data indicates that as part of the reduction Thai will completely phase out a number of types from its fleet, including 777-200's and -300's, 737-400s, 747-400's, A380's, A330-300's and A340-500's and -600's. Thai says it will have 58 aircraft in its fleet after the exercise, including 20 Airbus A320s operated by subsidiary Thai Smile. Thai Airways did not comment on whether it had received regulatory approval from the CAAT to sell or dispose of the aircraft. The flag carrier also intends to lay off nearly a thousand of its 14,900 employees, "according to its rehabilitation plan". It plans to reduce its workforce to 14,500 employees in January and to 14,000 employees by December 2022.