Passenger growth for Asia Pacific airlines; Cargo suffers

According to preliminary traffic figures from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) for the month of October 2011, international air passenger travel continued to grow, but international air freight markets remained weak.

Asia Pacific-based airlines carried a total of 16.5 million international passengers in October 2011, an increase of 5% compared to the same month last year. Overall, international passenger traffic, in revenue passenger kilometre terms (RPK), grew by 5.1%. Available seat capacity grew by 8.8% as a result of additional aircraft deliveries, resulting in a 2.7 percentage point fall in the average international passenger load factor, to 76.4%. International air cargo markets showed further weakness in October, with Asia Pacific carriers reporting a 7.7% decline in freight tonne kilometre (FTK) terms, compared to the same month last year. The average international air cargo load factor for Asia Pacific carriers fell by 3.9 percentage points, to 66.8%, after a 2.4% reduction in offered freight capacity.

“Asian carriers have continued to see growth in demand for both business and leisure travel, with an overall 3.7% increase in international passenger numbers for the first ten months of the year. However, air freight markets remained weak, with international air cargo demand declining by 4.5% compared to the same period last year. Asian exports have been negatively impacted by the pattern of slower economic growth seen in Europe and North America, particularly in the second half of the year,” said Andrew Herdman, AAPA Director General.

“Asian airlines are continuing to benefit from relatively strong economic growth in developing economies across the region, but airline margins have been squeezed by sharply higher fuel prices this year. Despite these challenges, optimism about the long term outlook is reflected in ambitious fleet expansion plans, and innovative new business ventures,” he added.