Asia Pacific air traffic continues downward trend
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Figures released today by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) have shown that its member airlines carried a total of 11.1 million international passengers in April, 5.8% fewer than in the same month last year.
International passenger traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), fell by 8.2% year-on-year, indicating the weakness in demand for long-haul travel. Overall seat capacity fell by 5.4%, causing AAPA international load factors to fall by two percentage points to 72.3%.
AAPA Director General, Andrew Herdman, commented; “For the first four months of the year, AAPA international passenger numbers were 9.6% lower than in the same period last year. Demand for first and business class seats has been particularly weak as companies have tightened their travel budgets.”
Herdman added however, that there are some signs that of the industry ‘bottoming-out’. “The April figures, although poor, are not quite as bad as the declines we experienced in the first three months of the year,” Herdman said. “Despite the slump in exports, some Asian economies are holding up reasonably well, with mainland China seeing a strong rebound in domestic travel after a weak performance in 2008. Nevertheless, the outlook for the remainder of the year is one of continued challenges.”
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