Traffic growth for Asia-Pacific airlines up 9% in August, outpaces other regions

AIR traffic for Asia-Pacific airlines grew 9 per cent year on year in August at a faster pace than other regions, data from the International Air Transport Association (Iata) showed.

Capacity (measured in available seat kilometres) rose 8.6 per cent for the region while load factor edged up 0.3 percentage point to 82.6 per cent.

Looking at international traffic alone, demand (measured in revenue-passenger-kilometres) increased 8.6 per cent for the region against an 8.3 per cent jump in capacity. Load factor was 0.2 per cent higher at 81.4 per cent.

Globally, demand was up 7.2 per cent from a year ago in August, while capacity increased by 6.3 per cent. As a result, load factor climbed 0.7 percentage point to 84.5 per cent.

"However, the same trend of softening demand growth on routes within the region was apparent," said Iata in the August report for global passenger traffic.

Iata chief Alexandre de Juniac said: "Following the strong summer traffic season in the Northern hemisphere, 2017 is on course to be another year of strong traffic growth."

He added: "However, some important demand drivers are easing, particularly lower fares. As we head towards the end of the year we still expect growth to continue, but potentially at a slower pace."