Middle East carriers led the world in November with a 12.2 percent passenger demand increase, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reveal.

IATA said in a statement, however, that the upward trend in the region’s seasonally adjusted traffic has paused, with November’s level coming in unchanged from that of July.

Capacity rose by 11.6 percent and load factor rose 0.3 percent to 68.7 percent in November, IATA added.

Globally, IATA said passenger traffic results for November showed the strongest demand growth in nine months. Total revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) rose 7.6 percent compared to November 2015.

It added that capacity (available seat kilometres or ASKs) increased by 6.5 percent, and load factor rose 0.8 percent to 78.9 percent.

“Stronger demand for air travel reflects — and is supporting – a pick-up in the global economic cycle. As the stimulus effect of lower oil prices recedes in the rear view mirror, the strength of the economic cycle will play a key role in the pace of demand growth in 2017,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO.

“The airline industry continues to deliver strong results. In 2017, for a third consecutive year, the industry’s return on invested capital will exceed the cost of capital We should see another solid year of collective profitability for the airlines in 2017. But we must be vigilant,” added de Juniac.