ASIA-PACIFIC AIRLINES TAKING THE LONG WAY HOME TO 2019

Airlines in Asia-Pacific are definitely growing, both in passenger numbers and available seat capacity, but if returning to 2019 levels is the goal, then it's still a long way off. In April the region's airlines carried 20.3 million passengers, which is around 65% of the 31.2 million they carried in April 2019.

This week the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) released its preliminary April 2023 monthly traffic update, which is compiled from the data of 40 airlines across the region. The report showed another month of growth and a dramatic increase in passengers from the same month in 2022, which has been a recurring pattern since late last year.

The last six months have surged in APAC

In November last year, the AAPA report showed passenger numbers of 13.4 million, which have grown steadily each month, reaching 20.3 million passengers in April. This was a very impressive 66% increase adding nearly seven million passengers in five months. The gap between April 2023 and 2019 is close to eleven million, and with the busy summer season approaching, the elusive 100% recovery may just squeeze into this year.

With China's big three airlines, China Eastern, China Southern and Air China now back in full swing, traffic into and out of Northeast Asia will continue to grow, with flow-on effects throughout the region. Looking westward Indian carriers such as Air India and IndiGo are flying full aircraft, as are Qantas and Air New Zealand in Oceania.

The part of Asia that really needs to get a hurry on is Southeast Asia, although Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet are aggressively adding capacity and building new markets, particularly to and from Australia. Yesterday AirAsia parent Capital A announced a profitable first quarter of 2023, with Singapore Airlines and low-cost carrier Scoot steadily adding traffic, as are Garuda Indonesia, Philippine Airlines and Thai Airways.

It's likely that holiday traffic in and out of Southeast Asia's popular tourist destinations will see a surge during summer and return this part of Asia back much closer to pre-pandemic levels.

Despite adding new aircraft and routes, like the Boeing 787-9 Sydney-Auckland-New York service starting this month, Qantas does not expect its international operations to recover fully until March 2024, despite its domestic network already operating ahead of pre-COVID numbers.

Robust growth is propelling the region

AAPA Director General Subhas Menon said that the recovery in Asian markets is still strong and that traffic to and from the region is "experiencing robust growth." He added:

"Overall, during the first four months of the year, Asia Pacific airlines carried a total of 74.2 million international passengers, a strong 438% year-on-year jump compared to the previous corresponding period."

The restrained opening of borders in Asia has put the region's airlines behind those in Europe and North America, but more aircraft are returning to service and airports and airlines have added thousands of new employees. In some ways the slow and steady recovery in Asia Pacific has given aviation the breathing space it needed to get its act together, so now it is on firm ground to quickly ramp up and meet this summer's peak.

Are you happy with how airlines in Asia-Pacific have recovered? Let us know in the comments.

2023-06-01T08:12:19Z dg43tfdfdgfd