Asia-Pac domestic airlines lead, but international recovery lags

While domestic capacity has surged back in many Asia-Pacific markets since the delta variant of COVID-19 subsided, the international rebound is far slower to emerge in this region than in others around the world.

Domestic markets continue to be a bright spot for those airlines that have strong home networks. Many airlines were badly affected by domestic lockdowns around the middle of 2021 and the third quarter, but most of these restrictions on internal travel have now been eased.

Of course, any optimism must be tempered by the potential of the omicron variant to cause disruptions.

On the international front, Asia-Pacific governments have generally been more reluctant to reopen borders than those in regions such as Europe and North America. This has made it very difficult for Asian airlines that rely heavily on international and connecting traffic to gain much recovery momentum.

These trends are borne out in the rankings tables for international and domestic capacity, which starkly illustrate the widely contrasting fortunes for Asia-Pacific domestic and international markets.