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Asia-Pacific international air travel demand falls 94.4% below pre-COVID-19 levels reports IATA
June 10th 2021
Asia-Pacific airlines' international revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) declined 94.4% in April compared with pre-COVID-19 levels of two years earlier, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said overnight. Read More » For the ninth consecutive month, the region posted the steepest decline among the six regions covered by the airline lobby group's monthly traffic report. Load factor, at 33.5%, also was the lowest among all regions. While Asia-Pacific's international passenger demand remained moribund in April, the China domestic market posted good growth. IATA said China’s domestic traffic has returned to pre-crisis levels of growth with RPKs up 6.8% in April compared with April 2019. “The continuing strong recovery in domestic markets tells us that when people are given the freedom to fly, they take advantage of it," IATA director general, Willie Walsh, said. "Unfortunately, that freedom still does not exist in most international markets. When it does, I am confident we will see a similar resurgence in demand." Globally, RPKs fell 65.4% in April compared with April 2019.
