DALLAS — The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) revealed preliminary traffic numbers for June 2024 today, indicating substantial increase in international air passenger markets, fueled by strong demand for air travel as the peak summer holiday season approaches.

In June, Asia Pacific airlines carried a combined total of 28.9 million foreign passengers, up 21.0% year on year, with traffic levels averaging 90.2% of the same month in 2019.

Similarly, demand for revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) increased by 23.8% year on year, nearly matching the 24.0% increase in available seating capacity. As a result, the international passenger load factor fell 0.2 percentage points to an average of 82.2% in June across Asian nations, particularly China and India.

Cargo Numbers

Meanwhile, international air cargo demand as measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTK) increased by an encouraging 16.4% year-on-year in June thanks to e-commerce activity and "security concerns in the Red Sea" that "spurred demand for air freight shipments."

After accounting for a 12.6% increase in provided freight capacity, the average international freight load factor rose 2.0 percentage points to 62.8% for the month.

As Mr. Subhas Menon, AAPA Director General said, “Asian airlines are seeing robust traffic growth, in tandem with expansion in global economic activity and improvements to connectivity within the region and globally."

However, as with the majority of airlines worldwide, delayed deployment of additional capacity due to supply strain constraints and delivery delays will still affect the region's airline growth.