Page 17 - AAA NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2022 Online Magazine

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ON THE RECOVERY PATH

WITH MOST OF THE COUNTRIES IN ASIA PACIFIC increase when compared to the same period
LIFTING AIR TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS, AIRLINES the previous year. Available seats expanded
IN THE REGION ARE SEEING A SURGE IN INTER- by 125 per cent.
NATIONAL PASSENGER TRAFFIC It got even better in October, a month that
saw carriers within the region transporting
ARUN SIVASANKARAN as many as 12.1 million international pas-
sengers, an eight-fold increase compared to
The sleeping giant has finally woken up. the 1.4 million passengers carried in October

Perhaps the most encouraging development for the aviation 2021. . Demand skyrocketed by 604.7 per
cent year-on-year, outpacing the 194.3 per
industry during 2022 is the lifting of international travel restric- cent expansion in available seat capacity. The
tions across most of the Asia Pacific region, including northeast total number of international passengers car-
Asia, where travel restrictions remained in place longer than ried by airlines in the region during the first
in any other part of the world. In the last quarter of the year, ten months of the year touched 74 million, a
Japan, Taiwan, and the Republic of Korea have reopened bor- 472 per cent increase compared to the cor-
ders, leading to a big spike in air traffic in the region. With China responding period in 2021.
relaxing several pandemic-related measures for international
travellers in November and also doing away with the ‘circuit
breaker’ mechanism that imposed temporary bans on airlines Covering Lost Ground
if a “high” number of infected passengers were discovered on The spectacular numbers however cannot
arrival, air traffic numbers in the region are set to soar in 2023, hide the fact that demand for air travel in
further hastening the speed of recovery. the region, measured in RPKs, is still just over
The impact of major Asian countries opening their borders is 40 per cent of pre-Covid levels, the lowest
already being reflected in passenger numbers. According to the among all regions. In North America, demand
International Air Transport Association (IATA), international traffic is almost 90 per cent of 2019 levels while it
jumped 102.4 percent in October this year, compared to October is 83 per cent in Latin America, 75 per cent
2021. International revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) grew to in Europe, 70 per cent in the Middle East and
reach 72.1 per cent of October 2019 levels. Forward bookings for 42 per cent in Africa.
international travel increased to around 75% of pre-pandemic According to IATA, Asia-Pacific is not expected
levels.
to recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2025,
The main driver of the increase is Asia-Pacific, which, until a few a full two years later than North America, but
months ago, had been the major obstacle for the industry’s quick the Asia-Pacific Airlines Association (AAPA)
recovery from the pandemic. According to the Asia-Pacific Airlines has a much more buoyant outlook even
Association (AAPA), Asia-Pacific airlines carried 62 million inter- though it cautions that rising inflation, eco-
national passengers in the first nine months of 2022, a five-fold nomic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and

ASIAN AIRLINES & AEROSPACE NOVEMBER-DECEMBER | 17