Strong short-haul demand lifts October traffic: AAPA

A “healthy travel appetite” – especially in the short-haul market – boosted international passenger traffic among Asia Pacific carriers in October, with near-term prospects still looking positive. International traffic data from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) for October shows the region’s carriers doubling their passenger volumes year on year, to 25.3m. The figure is around 80.5% that of pre-pandemic 2019. Traffic, meanwhile, climbed about 86% – helped by “relative strength” of the short-haul travel market – with capacity growing at 78%. In turn, passenger load factors rose about 3.4 percentage points year on year to 80.4%, a figure that is higher than pre-pandemic levels. AAPA director Subhas Menon says: “Asia-Pacific carriers continued to enjoy robust growth in business and leisure travel markets going into the fourth quarter, reflecting healthy travel appetite supported by resilient growth of the region’s economies.” <br/>