Preliminary traffic figures for the month of September released today by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) showed continued moderate growth in international air passenger numbers, whilst air cargo demand declined reflecting stagnant international trade activity.

 

The region’s airlines carried 29.1 million international passengers in September, an increase of 3.0% compared to the same month last year. Measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), demand grew by 3.4% whilst available seat capacity expanded by 4.4%, leading to a 0.7 percentage point decline in the average international passenger load factor to 78.6% for the month.

 

Meanwhile, international air cargo traffic in freight tonne kilometres terms (FTK) fell by 6.5% year-on-year in September on the back of continued weakness in external demand. Combined with the marginal 0.3% decline in offered freight capacity, the average international freight load factor dropped by 4.0 percentage points to 60.4% for the month.