Asia Pacific Airlines enjoy 7% passenger growth; cargo down 3.4% in 2012

Preliminary figures for the full calendar year 2012, from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) confirm solid growth in international air passenger demand, but weaker market conditions for international air cargo.

Asia Pacific Airlines carried a total of 207 million international passengers in 2012, 7% more than in the previous year, underpinned by an improvement in business markets and sustained leisure travel demand.

The International passenger traffic measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometre (RPK) terms, increased by 5.8%, indicating the relative strength of demand on regional short haul routes.

Capacity growth for the year was a relatively conservative 3.9%, resulting in a 1.5% increase in the average international passenger load factor, to 77.9%.

International air cargo demand, expressed in Freight Tonne Kilometre (FTK) terms, declined by 3.4% in 2012, as a result of continued weakness in global trading conditions.

This was matched by a 3.2% reduction in offered freight capacity, leading to a marginal 0.2% decline in the average international freight load factor, to 66.5% for the year.

“Overall, Asian airlines experienced a year of further encouraging growth in international passenger traffic in 2012, bolstered by healthy demand for regional travel. On the other hand, air cargo demand remained depressed for most of the year, only showing some signs of stabilising towards year end,” said Andrew Herdman, AAPA Director General.

“The global economic recovery is continuing, led by sustained growth in Asia and other developing markets, but consumer confidence in developed Western markets remains quite fragile.

“Nevertheless, the outlook for further growth in passenger travel remains positive, and hopefully in the New Year we could also see some signs of a long overdue recovery in the air cargo market.”