AAPA: Asia-Pacific international traffic up 6% in 2016; cargo rebounds

Asia-Pacific airlines carried 293m passengers in 2016, up 6% over 2015, according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA). Low oil prices earlier in the year, coupled with a highly competitive market and expanded travel networks, prompted Asia-Pacific carriers to slash airfares, boosting international passenger demand 6.6% year-over-year to 1.1t RPKs in 2016. International capacity was up 6.3% YOY to 1.4t ASKs, creating an international passenger load factor of 78.7%, up 0.3 point from 2015. AAPA DG Andrew Herdman said: “Asian regional travel markets were relatively strong, as was demand on routes to and from North America, although routes from Asia to Europe saw some weakness following terrorist-related incidents.” Herman added that “the outlook for [Asia-Pacific] air travel markets in 2017 remains broadly positive.” <br/>