MANILA, Philippines – Asia-Pacific based airlines flew more international passengers in August as more tourists traveled within the region, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported.
According to the latest data from the IATA, international traffic carried by Asia-Pacific airlines, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK), grew 5.6 percent.
Their capacity also increased by 6.8 percent, while load factor slipped 0.9 percentage points to 81.9 percent.
Asian passengers continued to exhibit wariness due to terrorism in Europe, so most of them instead are going to destinations closer to home, IATA said.
“There are signs of Asian travelers continuing to be put-off by recent terrorism in Europe. Traffic on Europe-Asia routes grew just 1.5 percent in July, the most recent month for which route-specific figures are available, while international traffic growth on routes within Asia accelerated to 9.9 percent,” the IATA added.
Meanwhile, global passenger traffic rose 4.6 percent but slower than the 6.4 percent increase recorded in July.
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Capacity increased by 5.8 percent, while load factor slipped 0.9 percentage points to 83.8 percent.
“Growth in passenger demand dipped to 4.6 percent. While that’s disappointing compared to the previous month’s performance, it is still healthy growth. And although terrorist attacks in Europe have dampened demand, the impact is ebbing,” IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said.
All regions exhibited growth in international traffic during the period, led by Middle Eastern carriers posting a 10.3 percent passenger growth.
