Air travel ‘is still growing’ in Asia
Figures from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) for November 2011show continued growth in international air passenger travel.
Friday 13 January 2012, 01:26PM
In aggregate, airlines based in the Asia Pacific region carried 15.7 million international passengers in November, a 4 per cent increase compared to the same month last year, maintaining the trend for 2011.
International passenger traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometre (RPK) terms grew by 3.5 per cent. However, the average international passenger load factor for the month was 1.7 percentage points lower, at 74.4 per cent, as a 5.9 per cent expansion in available seat capacity marginally outpaced the growth in demand.
International air cargo traffic demand suffered a further decline in November as a result of continued moderation in export and import markets. Asia Pacific carriers registered a 6.5 per cent fall in cargo traffic, in freight tonne kilometre (FTK) terms, in November compared to the same month last year.
Offered freight capacity fell by just 0.6 per cent, resulting in a 4.1 percentage point decline in the average international freight load factor, to 64.9 per cent.
“Despite growing concerns about a further slowdown in the global economy, so far passenger travel markets have held up reasonably well, with Asian airlines seeing a 3.6 per cent increase in international air passenger numbers for the first eleven months of the year.
