KUALA LUMPUR – Preliminary figures released by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) show that its member airlines carried a total of 11.1 million international passengers in April, 5.8% fewer than in the same month last year.
Andrew Herdman, AAPA director general said, “The April figures, although poor, are not quite as bad as the declines we experienced in the first three months of the year.
“Despite the slump in exports, some Asian economies are holding up reasonably well, with Mainland China seeing a strong rebound in domestic travel after a weak performance in 2008.
“Nevertheless, the outlook for the remainder of the year is one of continued challenges.â€
International passenger traffic, in revenue passenger kilometre (RPK) terms, fell by 8.2% year-on-year, indicating the relative weakness in demand for long-haul travel.
With overall seat capacity being reduced by 5.4%, the average AAPA international passenger load factor fell by two percentage points to 72.3%.
Herdman added, “Business conditions for airlines remain extremely difficult, with a combination of aggressive revenue-generating and parallel cost-cutting initiatives proving critical to riding out the ongoing economic storm.
“However, there are some tentative signs that we may at least be through the worst.â€
