Business Digest
Leisure travelers add kick to Asia-Pacific growth
July 1st 2015
An increase in Lunar New Year leisure travelers extended into March when Asia-Pacific airlines carried 23.3 million passengers, an 11.3% increase, for the month. Revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) rose by 11.5%, exceeding a 7.0% expansion in available seat capacity. Read More » The 3.2 percentage point growth resulted in an average international passenger load factor of 78.9% for the month.
In the first quarter of the year, international passenger numbers increased by 9.4%, to 67 million plus, with the “Big Three” Mainland Chinese carriers – Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines - registering combined growth of 20.0%. Passenger demand is expected to remain buoyant, supported by an expansion in international trade and sustained regional economic growth.
Asia-Pacific air freight slows
For Asia-Pacific carriers, international air cargo demand, measured in freight tonne kilometres (FTK), registered slower growth of 1.5% in March after two months of better results in January and February. The closure of manufacturing hubs in the region during the Lunar New Year holiday contributed to the moderating growth. Despite a relatively modest 2.3% expansion in available freight capacity, the average international freight load factor was 0.5 percentage points lower, at 68.2%, for the month.
For the three months to March 31, international air freight demand grew by 8.4%, which was partly due to a shift to air freight from sea freight on the U.S. West Coast, as a result of industrial disputes at West Coast ports.
Moderate expansion in air freight demand is forecast in the coming months as the global economy continues to recover.
Asia-Pacific international passenger and cargo growth continues
Twenty three million international passengers were carried by Asia-Pacific airlines in April, a 9.6% increase compared with the same month last year, based on robust business and leisure travel demand. Measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), expansion was 8.2%, surpassing the 5.7% addition in capacity at the region’s airlines that resulted in a 1.8 percentage point increase in the average international passenger load factor, to 78.1%, for the month.
Air cargo markets continued to grow, in spite of April being a seasonally subdued month. In freight tonne kilometre (FTK), demand was 3.7% higher than the same month in 2014. Offered freight capacity expanded by 4.7%, leading to a 0.6 percentage point decline in the average international freight load factor, to 63.5%, in April.
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This report was compiled by the Research and Statistics Department of the AAPA Secretariat.
