Passenger traffic in the Asia Pacific region during the month of June continued to surge, according to new data released from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).
Passenger traffic for AAPA member airlines for the month increased by a sharp 25.2 per cent compared to June 2009 to 15.1 million passengers. Revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs) increased by 19 per cent cent as available seat kilometres grew by 6.4 per cent, resulting in an 8.5 percentage point increase in average load factor to 79.5 per cent.
Cargo also continued its surge, with traffic in freight tonne kilometres up by 30.4 per cent as freight capacity increasing by 22.1 per cent. Freight load factor grew by 4.5 percentage points to 70.8 per cent.
“Asia Pacific-based airlines have seen a solid recovery in leisure and business travel, as well as robust air cargo demand, with overall traffic back to pre-recession levels,” commented AAPA director general Andrew Herdman. “Capacity increases have been relatively restrained, leading to higher load factors and improving cost efficiencies as airlines work towards restoring profitability.”
Herdman added that the outlook for airlines was largely positive, particularly with economic growth in the region forecast to grow by 9.2 per cent according to the IMF. “Airlines are well positioned to meet the expected growth in demand, through a combination of new aircraft deliveries and further improvements in fleet utilisation. However, even with an improving revenue environment, strict cost disciplines are still the key to success in this business.”
