World air travel demand slips 0.8% in August, load factor falls to 85.1%

World passenger demand fell 0.8% in August 2026, while the Middle East region saw a 0.6% increase.

Available seat kilometres rose 0.3% but revenue kilometres dropped 0.8%, and the overall load factor declined 0.9 points to 85.1% in the same month. Both international and domestic RPK were lower than the previous month, although world RPK excluding the Middle East grew 0.6%.