The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has released its traffic data for April, showing strong demand for both passenger and freight services despite the disruptions to long haul European services due to the Icelandic volcano eruption.
Passenger numbers for the month increased by 11.7 per cent compared to April 2009, with traffic for the 2010 calendar year up by 12.8 per cent. As traffic increased, capacity increased by only 0.9 per cent, causing passenger load factor to rise by 7.2 percentage points to 78.4 per cent. Freight also showed its resilience, with freight tonne-kilometres up by 34.1 per cent, pushing up freight load factor to 71.9 per cent.
AAPA director general Andrew Herdman welcomed the figures. “Overall, traffic demand is now back to the levels seen before the recession,” he commented. “The outlook for the coming months remains broadly positive, supported by Asia’s buoyant economic growth, although concerns remain over regional imbalances, as well as oil and currency volatility.”
