Asian air traffic gathers pace
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
Demand for air travel in the Asia Pacific region continued to rise in October 2013.
According to the latest data from IATA, Asia Pacific-based carriers experienced a 7.8% upturn in international traffic during the month – the strongest performance among the world’s three major regions. This continues the rapid acceleration in demand for Asian air travel experienced in the second half of the year, following an 8.6% growth rate in August 2013 and 8.5% in September.
IATA said these improvements are being driven by the upturn in demand in major economies such as China and Japan, and this is also being reflected in domestic travel. China’s domestic traffic jumped 12.3% in October 2013, while demand in Japan increased 5.1%.
Globally, IATA reported that air passenger traffic increased 6.6% in October 2013.
“October traffic results reinforce expectations for a strong fourth quarter traffic performance in line with rising business confidence and better economic performance in the major advanced economies,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general & CEO.
European airlines saw passenger traffic increase 5.4%, while in North America demand rose 3.6%. North American airlines however, continued to post the strongest cabin load factors, at 81.4%, compared to 81.0% in Europe and 76.4% in Asia Pacific.
Middle Eastern carriers also had a strong month, with traffic rising 14.0% and load factors averaging 75.5%. In terms of Asia’s other key domestic markets, Indian traffic continued to see strong growth, rising 11.5%, while Australia’s domestic traffic rose 1.2%.
The global airline industry is expected to carry more than three billion passengers for the first time in 2013.
Comments are closed.