Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (April 2): The Asia Pacific region contributed significantly to the robust growth in international passenger demand in February 2015, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

Asia Pacific airlines saw a 10.4% surge in traffic, as compared to the same period last year.

IATA said in a statement today, although the strong results reflect leisure traffic around the Lunar New Year, the underlying trend in volumes confirms robust expansion in air travel, as capacity rose 8.2% and load factor climbed 1.6 percentage points to 78.2%.

IATA’s data showed the international passenger market demand rose 6.8% y-o-y with airlines in all regions, except Africa, recording growth.

Capacity climbed 5.7% and load factor rose 0.7 percentage points to 77.4%.

Meanwhile, European carriers saw demand increase by 4.8%, while North American airlines moved by 3.5% and Middle East carrier jumped 8.7%. Latin American airlines on the other hand saw a 7.4% rise, while African airlines fell 2%.

IATA said total global revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) rose 6.2% in February, from a year ago — an improvement compared to the January’s increase of 4.5%.

The increase was due to a positive impact from the Lunar New Year holiday.

In February, the global capacity for available seat kilometres increased by 5.6% and load factor rose to 78.5%.

“Lunar New Year celebrations, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, certainly contributed to the robust February performance, but it is also clear that solid demand for connectivity is offsetting economic weakness in some regions, including the Eurozone,” said IATA’s director general and CEO Tony Tyler.

“The millions of people who travelled for Lunar New Year remind us of the vital role that aviation plays in connecting our world,” he said, adding some nine million people travel on 100,000 flights on an average day.

Meanwhile, domestic travel demand rose 5.3% y-o-y, with the strongest growth occurring in India and Brazil, followed by China which benefited from Lunar New Year-related travel.

Domestic demand in India and Brazil rose 14.8% and 9.2% respectively as demand in the former improved, while the latter experienced a positive impact from Carnival celebrations felt during the whole month.

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