Preliminary air traffic figures for May released on Wednesday by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) showed international passenger traffic volumes remained at depressed levels, held back by strict border restrictions amid concerns about the spread of Covid-19 variants.
Only 1.3 million international passengers flew on the region’s carriers in May, representing just 4.3 per cent of the volumes carried in the corresponding month of 2019.
The international passenger load factor averaged 28.4 per cent for the month with available seat capacity at 12.3 per cent of levels recorded in 2019. Meanwhile, strong business and consumer demand globally drove demand for air cargo.
International air cargo demand as measured in freight tonne kilometres saw 23.1 per cent year-on-year growth,
