Asia-Pacific Aviation Recovery Continues as Travel Demand Soars

¦ Demand prompts big increase in AsPac flight schedules
¦ Intra-regional flights up by seven per cent
¦ Deregulation spurs Indian air transport boom
¦ Global timetables show zero growth

Asia’s aviation industry, which many feared was on the brink of collapse when the SARS crisis peaked in 2003, continues to make a remarkable recovery as airlines rush to add additional flights to meet travel demand.

Latest figures released from OAG reveal that airlines will this month operate 13 per cent more flights to and from the Asia-Pacific region than they did in April last year. The number of intra-regional flights is also up, by seven per cent.

“This month’s 43,000 intercontinental flights compares with fewer than 32,000 in April 2003, but the most dramatic growth is in the number of intra-regional flights,” says Duncan Alexander, managing director for OAG Business Development.

“This month, airlines will operate nearly 460,000 flights within the Asia-Pacific region, nearly 95,000 more than they scheduled back in April 2003.”

The figures are revealed in OAG’s latest Quarterly Airline Traffic Statistics, a regular snapshot of airline activity around the world. OAG collates data from more than 1000 scheduled airlines, on a daily basis, to give an overview of anticipated travel demand.

For once, the region’s growth is not being led by China – although airlines will be offering 10 per cent more flights to and from the country, and 12 per cent more within the country, this month.

Airline industry deregulation in India, however, has seen a 20 per cent increase in flights to and from that country, and a massive 40 per cent growth in the number of domestic flights.

Worldwide, nearly 266.3 million airline tickets go on sale this month, two per cent more than in April last year, although the number of flights available has remained static at around 2.3 million.

Regional figures show that the Middle East’s aviation industry is outperforming the rest of the world by a significant margin. The number of flights to and from the region this month is 16 per cent higher than in April 2005, while the intra-regional figure is 13 per cent up. The number of Middle East low-cost flights has doubled since last year.

April 2006 sees a ten per cent increase in flights to and from both Europe and Africa. Central and South America is showing a five per cent increase in intercontinental flying, while the North American international total is three per cent higher.

The number of US domestic flights – which constitute by far the largest air transport market in the world – is six per cent lower than in April 2005.

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About OAG

OAG is an information management and distribution company specialising in travel and transportation.

OAG’s expertise is in managing large amounts of data and building applications and products to get that information into the hands of people who need it.

OAG holds a breadth of travel related content. It is best known for its airline schedules database, which holds flight details for 1,000 airlines and more than 3,500 airports. Every ten seconds a flight is updated on the OAG system.

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