Global air traffic reaches record levels in 2017, thanks to budget airlines

Montreal

BUDGET carriers continued to push global air traffic to new record levels last year, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said on Wednesday.

Scheduled air services carried "a new record" of 4.1 billion passengers in 2017, an increase of 7.1 per cent over the previous year, ICAO said, citing preliminary data. The figure compares with 6 per cent growth in 2016.