Airline passenger demand in the Middle East grew by just over 10 per cent in November compared with the same month in 2011, the second-best growth rate in the world.

According to the latest statistics from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Middle East region was only beaten by Latin America, which saw 11 per cent growth in passenger demand.

However, growth in passenger capacity in the Middle East grew by 11.2 per cent, which resulted in the load factor falling 0.5 per cent to 73.5 per cent.

Freight traffic in the Middle East saw the strongest year-on-year growth globally, recording an increase of 16 per cent in November last year, compared with the same period the previous year. With capacity increasing by just 6.1 per cent, freight load factor increased by 46.7 per cent, an increase of 4 per cent compared with the previous year.

Globally, passenger air travel was almost 5 per cent higher compared with November 2011, and up by 2.9 per cent compared with October.

Air freight volumes increased by 1.6 per cent in November, rebounding from a decline of 2.6 per cent recorded in October.