Asia-Pacific airlines: international capacity is making good progress in closing recovery gap

Asia-Pacific airlines have been accelerating their capacity recovery on international routes in recent months - although they still have some way to go to catch up with airlines in other global regions.

International demand has undoubtedly roared back - as evidenced by the elevated average fares and profits of some airlines. Airlines have tried to keep pace by returning more parked aircraft to service and purchasing or leasing additional lift, but supply is still constrained.

This means international capacity is being determined more by aircraft availability than by demand levels in many cases.

There is still a lot of variance between sub-regions in the broader Asia-Pacific region. The Northeast Asia sub-region still lags other parts, such as Southeast Asia and Australasia.

However, even in Northeast Asia the improvement has been dramatic since the first quarter of 2023.