Preliminary figures for the month of May from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) show continued growth in both freight and passenger. Reflecting the surprisingly robust regional economic upturn, Asia Pacific-based airlines saw continued strong demand for international air cargo shipments with a 39 per cent growth in traffic measured in freight tonne kilometres (FTK) compared to the same month last year. International cargo load factors in May climbed 8.7 percentage points to reach 72.6 per cent, despite22.2 per cent growth in freight capacity.

The same Asia Pacific airlines carried a total of 14.6 million international passengers in May, up 17.6 per cent compared to the same month last year. International passenger traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), grew by 14.6 per cent. With a 3.3 per cent expansion in capacity, the average international passenger load factor increased by 7.3 percentage points to 74.6 per cent.

Commenting on the results, Andrew Herdman, AAPA director general said: “The latest set of air traffic figures confirmthe underlying strength of the economic recovery, led by dynamic growth in theAsia Pacific region.”