Asia-Pacific air travel rises 6% in March

MANILA, Philippines – International air travel in the Asia-Pacific region has sustained its upward trend due to the increase in direct airport connections and strong growth of its key routes, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported.

Latest data from IATA showed that March traffic for Asia-Pacific based airlines rose six percent compared to year-ago figures as capacity increased 7.8 percent but load factor went down to 77.4 percent.

“Slower economic growth in many of the region’s economies has been at least partly offset by the 7.3 percent increase in the number of direct airport connections within the region, which has helped to stimulate demand by affording time savings for passengers,” IATA director general and chief executive officer Tony Tyler said.

IATA added that key international routes within Asia, across the Pacific and to the Middle East grew strongly in the first quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, global passenger traffic for March showed continued growth for both domestic and international traffic with total revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) rising 5.3 percent. International passenger demand also increased 6.2 percent while capacity climbed seven percent.

“While in line with long-term trends, demand growth in March represented a slow-down compared to January and February. It is premature to say whether this marks the end of the recent very strong results. We do expect further stimulus in the form of network expansion and declines in travel costs,” Tyler said.

Furthermore, Middle East carriers posted a 12 percent increase year-on-year, the largest among all regions, on the back of its carriers’ network and fleet expansion.

African airlines continue to enjoy strong demand with traffic growth at 11.2 percent as the region’s carriers expand their long-haul networks.

Likewise, traffic in Latin America climbed eight percent in March suggesting an upward trend but domestic traffic remains under pressure from economic difficulties particularly in Brazil.

European carriers saw traffic increase 5.5 percent as volumes started to pick up after the region’s decline in the last part of 2015 due to airline strikes and shutdowns, and strong growth was recorded in the region’s largest routes.

On the other hand, airlines in North America saw the slowest growth in international traffic at 0.7 percent as carriers have focused on stronger and larger domestic market.