Asian air traffic rises in January
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Airlines in the Asia Pacific region carried 21.1 million international passengers in January, 8.7% more than the same month last year.
According to the latest data from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), the strong demand for flights was linked to the Chinese New Year holiday season, which fell in late January this year.
Measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), passenger traffic grew by 8.1%, while available seat capacity expanded 7.2%. This allowed average load factors to edge up 0.7 percentage points, to 79.0%.
“The year started on an encouraging note for Asian carriers, with solid increases in passenger numbers maintaining the established growth trend,” said AAPA director general, Andrew Herdman. “Nevertheless, Asian carriers face a number of headwinds including recent stock market and currency volatility in emerging markets, and widespread competitive pressures holding down yields.
“Despite these challenges, the outlook for the year ahead remains broadly positive given expectations of further improvements in the global economy that should help underpin further increases in both business and leisure travel demand,” he added.
International traffic on Asia Pacific’s airlines reached 220m passengers in 2013, 6.0% more than 2012.
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