Asia-Pacific travel demand ‘to moderate’ after year-end high: AAPA

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) expects international travel demand to “moderate” following strong recovery seen at the end of 2022, where major markets such as Japan and China reopened their borders. In comments made alongside the release of February traffic results for the international operations of Asia-Pacific carriers, AAPA director general Subhas Menon says travel sentiment will continue to hold up for the rest of the year, with capacity and networks restored to pre-pandemic levels. During the month, AAPA data shows strong year-on-year recovery from airlines, buoyed by the Lunar New Year holidays, as well as “strong appetite for travel”. Asia-Pacific carriers flew close to 16.9m international passengers, a seven-fold jump against the year-ago period, when travel demand was still suppressed by travel restrictions. Capacity was up three-fold year on year, while traffic grew nearly six times, leading to a 38.6 percentage point rise in load factors to 81.3%. Menon states that “strong travel demand will continue to underpin recovery” for the near-term. He warns of potential operational issues arising while ramping up. <br/>