If your flights seem a little more crowded these days, there’s a reason for that. While air passenger traffic is growing, airlines aren’t necessarily adding more seats—at least not quickly enough—they’re just flying fuller planes.
Comparing January 2015 and January 2016, global commercial air traffic grew 7.1 percent, but seat capacity only grew by 5.6 percent. That means planes were flying fuller compared to the year before.
The load factor—the global percentage of available seats that are used—for January 2016 was 78.8 percent, making it the highest January on record. The new data released by the International Air Transport Association, adds to the overall trend of airlines flying fuller planes.
