Asia Pacific Airlines (APAC) continue to report a strong growth in air travel demand as per International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s February 2023 report. APAC airlines had a 378.7% increase in February 2023 traffic compared to February 2022, maintaining the very positive momentum of the past few months since the lifting of travel restrictions in the region. Capacity rose 176.4% and the load factor increased 34.9 percentage points to 82.5%, the second highest among the regions.
“Despite the uncertain economic signals, demand for air travel continues to be strong across the globe and particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The industry is now just about 15% below 2019 levels of demand and that gap is narrowing each month,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
Middle Eastern airlines saw a 75% traffic increase compared to February 2022. Capacity climbed 40.5% and load factor pushed up 15.8 percentage points to 80%.
African airlines’ traffic rose 90.7% in February 2023 versus a year ago. February capacity was up 61.7% and load factor climbed 11.4 percentage points to 75%.
Japan’s domestic traffic surged 161.4% in February compared to a year ago and now stands at 89.9% of pre-pandemic levels.