However it should be noted that comparisons with March last year are affected by events that depressed
passenger demand in 2011, including the Arab Spring, which disrupted
travel in the Middle East and North Africa beginning in February 2011
and the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011 that impacted air
travel across the Asia-Pacific region. IATA estimates that the
year-on-year rise in air travel in March was about two percentage points
higher than it would otherwise have been in the absence of these
events.
"African airlines reported a 14.3% rise in traffic, of which an estimated 11 percentage points was attributed to traffic suppression in March 2011 owing to the Arab Spring. Capacity rose 10.7%, resulting in a load factor of 64.8%, which although an improvement year-on-year, was by far the lowest among the regions."
