Middle East carriers had the strongest year-on-year traffic growth for any region at 11.7%, said the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) global passenger traffic results for May.

But with capacity up 12.8%, load factor declined 0.7% to 73.5%. Demand for air travel in the Middle East and Africa has benefitted from continued expansion in trade volumes since late 2011, it said.

IATA also revealed that overall air travel demand rose 5.6% in May, showing a continued expansion of global passenger traffic at a healthy rate.

Growth was led by emerging markets and the load factor was pushed up 0.3% points to 78.1% compared to the same period last year.

“Global economic performance remains a concern; however, demand for air travel continues to expand. The primary driver is growing demand for connectivity to emerging markets,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

“The business environment has also improved compared to mid-2012 with some indications of easing weakness in the Euro zone. It’s still a tough environment, but there are some reasons for optimism in the second half of the year,” he said.

The international passenger demand rose 5.7% in May compared to the year-ago period, with capacity up 5.6%. Load factor was flat at 77%.

The strongest growth occurred in the emerging markets of Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.