Asian aircraft fly emptier in May
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The addition of extra seat capacity by Asian airlines had a negative impact on the region’s load factors in May 2013.
According to the latest data from IATA, airlines in the Asia Pacific region filled just 74.1% of their seats during the month, down from more than 75% in the same month last year. Passenger traffic on Asian airlines actually climbed 3.7% year-on-year in May, but this failed to keep pace with a 5.5% increase in available seats, causing the drop in load factors.
Asia Pacific’s average load factor is now considerably lower than North America (83.4%) and Europe (79.1%), but slightly higher than the Middle East (73.5%).
On a global scale however, airlines are still managing capacity well. The world’s airlines added 5.2% more seats in May 2013, compared to the same month last year, while passenger demand increased 5.6%. This pushed global average load factors up 0.3 percentage points to 78.1%.
“Demand for air travel continues to expand. The primary driver is growing demand for connectivity to emerging markets. The business environment has also improved compared to mid-2012 with some indications of easing weakness in the eurozone. It’s still a tough environment, but there are some reasons for optimism in the second half of the year,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general & CEO.
In terms of domestic markets, Chinese airlines experienced a 13.4% jump in traffic in May, with load factors rising to a healthy 79.5%. This was in stark contrast to Japan’s domestic sector, where aircraft took off with an average of just 61.0% of seats filled. This came despite a 5.9% rise in passenger traffic.
US carriers continued to report the highest domestic load factors, at 85.0%, while Indian airlines also performed well, operating with loads of 81.6%.
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