Asia Pacific airlines report strong start to 2017 with +7.7% hike in international passenger traffic

ASIA PACIFIC. Asia Pacific airlines carried 26.8 million international passengers in January, up +7.7% year-on-year.

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) said the increase was driven by an upturn in leisure travel in the build-up to Chinese New Year.

Demand in revenue passenger kilometre (RPK) terms jumped by +8.1%, which AAPA attributed to robust travel demand within the region and on selected long-haul routes.

The average international passenger load factor strengthened by 1.7 percentage points to reach 81.8% after accounting for a 5.9% expansion in available seat capacity.

AAPA table
Source: APAA

AAPA Director General Andrew Herdman commented: “The overall picture for the year ahead looks broadly positive, against a backdrop of renewed optimism on global growth prospects and improving consumer and business confidence across sectors.

“Air travel markets remain intensely competitive, with margins still under pressure from the effects of rising fuel costs”

“However, air travel markets remain intensely competitive, with margins still under pressure from the effects of rising fuel costs. Overall, airlines remain pro-active in looking for new growth opportunities, whilst carefully managing costs in a bid to preserve earnings margins.”

The upturn in passenger traffic in January comes after a year of growth for Asia Pacific airlines.

Last month AAPA reported that international passenger traffic in 2016 jumped by +6.0% year-on-year to 293 million.

AAPA said demand for Asian regional travel markets and from North America was strong, while routes from Asia to Europe saw some weakness following terrorist-related incidents.

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