KUALA LUMPUR (April 11): Global air travel passenger traffic results for February showed continuing strong demand growth for domestic and international travel, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

In a statement on its website April 7, IATA said total revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rose 8.6% compared to the same month last year.

It said monthly capacity (available seat kilometers or ASKs) increased by 9.6%, and load factor declined 0.7 percentage points to 77.8%.

IATA director general and chief executive officer Tony Tyler said that in the first two months of 2016, demand for passenger connectivity is off to its strongest start in eight years.

"However, February was the first month since the middle of 2015 in which capacity growth exceeded demand, which caused the global load factor to decline.

"It is unclear whether this signals the start of a generalised downward trend in load factor, but it bears watching," he said.