KUALA LUMPUR – Preliminary traffic results for February 2008 released by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines indicate an increase of 4.8% in the number of international passengers carried to 11.6 million.
Passenger traffic in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) terms grew by 5.9% on capacity growth of 5.7%, leading to a marginal 0.1 percentage point improvement in passenger load factor, to 76.3%.
Commenting on the results, Andrew Herdman, AAPA’s director general said, “The traffic figures for January and February indicate a solid start to the year, with AAPA international passenger traffic for the first two months growing by 5.1% in RPK terms.
“In line with recent trends, international air cargo traffic recorded more modest growth, up 3.5% in FTK terms.
“Overall, we remain cautiously optimistic on the outlook for Asia Pacific airlines in 2008.
“At the same time, we are keeping a close eye on developments in the global economy, with the effects of high oil prices still ranking as the major concern.â€
