Flight bookings show pent-up travel demand, bodes well for Singapore’s air traffic target

Air tickets booked during the upcoming public holidays in early May have surged to 178% of pre-Covid levels and as high as 336% on Apr 30

Tay Peck Gek

Published Wed, Apr 20, 2022 · 05:50 AM

Aviation

SINGAPORE could be on track to restoring at least 50 per cent of pre-Covid airport traffic this year, going by the strong travel demand showing up in future bookings.

Numbers from global air travel analytics firm ForwardKeys showed that air tickets booked to depart Singapore during the upcoming public holidays in early May, Labour Day (May 1) and Hari Raya Puasa (May 3), have surged to 178 per cent of pre-Covid levels and as high as 336 per cent of pre-pandemic levels on Apr 30 (Saturday), the start of the 4-day long “weekend”.

It shows the unleashing of pent-up demand in Singapore outbound leisure travel, vice-president of sales for Asia-Pacific at ForwardKeys, Kee Bing Han, told The Business Times. He noted that data shows regional countries within 2 to 4 hours of flight time are a favourite with outbound travellers, as Maldives, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand each logging a jump of over 10 times pre-pandemic levels and among destinations with the highest increase.