Global demand for air travel rose 8.6 percent in February, building on a 7.1 percent gain in January, but the amount of seats available rose faster than that for the first time in months, according to IATA.
Capacity measured in available seat km rose 9.6 percent, outstripping demand, with load factor dropping 0.7 percentage points to 77.8 percent, IATA said in its monthly traffic update.

"February was the first month since the middle of 2015 in which capacity growth exceeded demand… It is unclear whether this signals the start of a generalised downward trend in load factor, but it bears watching," IATA Director General Tony Tyler said in a statement.