The International Air Transport Association (IATA) posted a steady rise in the air travel demand across Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. In a recent report detailing traffic figures for January 2023, IATA reported a 376.3% increase in January traffic compared to January 2022 for Asia-Pacific (APAC) airlines reflecting by far the strongest year-over-year rate among the regions.
The APAC airlines ruled the roost with an increase of 167.1% in capacity and rise of 36.6 percentage points to 83.3% load factor.
Asia-Pacific airlines saw their air cargo volumes decrease by 19% in January 2023 compared to the same month in 2022. This was an improvement in performance compared to December (-21.2%). Airlines in the region continue to be impacted by lower levels of trade and manufacturing activity and disruptions in supply chains due to the residual effects of COVID restrictions that were imposed by China. Additionally, the positioning of the Lunar New Year would have impacted cargo volumes in January. Available capacity in the region increased by 8.8% compared to January 2022.
Middle Eastern airlines too posted a strong recovery with increase of 97.7% as compared to January 2021. IATA reported a capacity rise of 45.9% while the load factor closed at 79.2% with a rise of 20.8 percentage points.
IATA posted a 11.8% year-on-year decrease in cargo volumes in January 2023 for Middle Eastern carriers with a 9.6% increase in capacity as compared to January 2022.
Australia’s domestic traffic rose 107.3% in January compared to a year ago and now stands at 88.8% of pre-pandemic levels while China’s domestic RPKs (Revenue Passenger Kilometers) rose 37.2% in January 2023, the first month over month annual increase since August 2022 and is now at 86.3% of January 2019 levels, as per IATA report.
For African airlines the traffic rose 124.8% in January 2023 versus a year ago. January capacity was up 82.5% and load factor climbed 13.9 percentage points to 73.7%, the lowest among regions.
African airlines saw cargo volumes decrease by 9.5% in January 2023 compared to January 2022.