Air travel demand still trails in Asia-Pacific, with China growth the key variable

Asia-Pacific international passenger demand is swiftly catching up to that of other regions, despite the continuing slow pace of recovery in the key China market.

Data from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) shows that this region has the lowest demand recovery globally - by a large margin in some cases. However, the rate of increase is also far higher in Asia-Pacific compared to the other regions, which signals that the gap is continuing to close.

The mainland China market remains the wild card, as it has been since the start of the region's post-pandemic recovery. Although other markets have increased their relative importance, China international travel growth would need to accelerate for the broader region to fully recover.

AAPA Director-General Subhas Menon discussed these trends during the group's annual assembly on 9-10-Nov-2023. This occurred just a week after the CAPA - Centre for Aviation Asia Aviation summit in Kuala Lumpur on 2-3 November 2023, where the China market was also a major topic of conversation.