Asian air traffic climbs 8%
Airlines based in the Asia Pacific region carried a combined total of 17.0 million international passengers in November 2012, an increase of 8.4% year-on-year.
According to the latest data from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), traffic in revenue passenger kilometre (RPK) terms grew 7.9%, while available seat capacity expanded by a slower 3.5%, resulting in a 3.1 percentage point increase in average cabin load factors, to 76.7%. For the first 11 months of the year, Asia Pacific carriers saw a healthy 7.1% rise in international passenger traffic.
“Asian carriers have seen some very encouraging growth in passenger demand throughout 2012,” said AAPA Director-General, Andrew Herdman. “On the cost side, high fuel prices kept up the pressure on already thin operating margins. Airlines responded by accelerating the deployment of newer more fuel-efficient aircraft, and carefully managing capacity to match changing demand patterns.
“Despite uncertainty over the global economic outlook, Asian airlines are continuing to invest for the future, including both fleet development and customer service innovation,” he added.