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Asia-Pacific airline lobby group welcomes industry efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake
June 1st 2021
Passenger demand in the Asia-Pacific remained "significantly depressed" in April as surges in COVID-19 transmissions across several countries in the region dampened hopes of a meaningful recovery, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) said. Read More » “In Asia, the relatively slow pace of vaccinations continues to undermine the region’s economic recovery, in particular, the travel and tourism sectors which have been badly hit," AAPA director general, Subhas Menon, said. Accelerating vaccination rollouts will be critical to the restart of the travel industry, he said. Asia-Pacific carriers flew 1.13 million passengers on scheduled international services in April, AAPA figures showed, more than three times the 367,000 passengers transported in the same month a year earlier and up 6.5% from 1.06 million passengers flown in March. However, the April numbers were 96.4% below the pre-COVID-19 levels of the 31.2 million international passengers Asia-Pacific airlines flew in April 2019. AAPA figures are compiled from the traffic data of 40 Asia-Pacific-based carriers.
