Asian air traffic weakens
Contributors are not employed, compensated or governed by TD, opinions and statements are from the contributor directly
Air traffic in the Asia Pacific region continued to rise in October 2016, but at a slower rate than in previous months.
According to the latest data from IATA, international traffic on Asia Pacific airlines increased 7.0% during the month, in line with a similar expansion of seat capacity. This kept the region’s average load factors steady at 76.9%.
IATA noted however, that the strong upward trend in traffic has slowed in recent months. It added however, that it is “too soon to determine whether this is an actual weakening, or just a brief pause”.
The association also revealed that the Asia-to-Europe market, which had suffered following the terrorist attacks in Europe, is “continuing to recover”.
Despite the slowdown in Asia, the region’s growth remains among the strongest of any global region.
Asia major economies continued to see rising domestic air traffic in October, with Indian traffic rising 22.7% and Chinese traffic up 14.1%.
Global air traffic increased 5.8% year-on-year in October, with load factors averaging 80.1%. This marked a slowdown from the 7.1% growth recorded in September, but IATA said that it was still “broadly in line with 10-year averages”.
“Passenger demand growth in October was consistent with long-term trends but represented a deterioration compared to September,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general & CEO. “While the negative traffic impact from terror attacks and political instability in parts of the world has receded, the long downward trend in yield – which helped to stimulate travel – has levelled off.”
Comments are closed.