Asia Pacific demand growth has cooled after post-pandemic surge

While the Asia Pacific airline industry has regained pre-pandemic international capacity levels, progress beyond this point has proven elusive.

This was one of the major points in a state-of-the-industry presentation during the CAPA Airline Leader Summit - Asia event in Singapore on 30-Oct-2025.

At last year's event in Hong Kong in Nov-2024, a similar presentation noted that Asia Pacific capacity had levelled off. Well, this year it has flattened even more.

A certain amount of tapering in growth rate could be expected, as the industry approached full recovery.

But there are other factors at play, such as the supply chain crisis, delivery delays and engine shortages, that are affecting capacity plans.

Despite operational constraints, Asia Pacific airlines have demonstrated confidence in future growth, placing 224 firm aircraft orders in 2025 alone.

The good news is that airlines are still generally profitable, supporting their fleet investments. However, profits are coming under more pressure, and it is likely that we are past the peak of the latest profit cycle.

This analysis looks at trends in the broader Asia Pacific region, but also takes a closer view of some specific markets such as Thailand, Mainland China and Japan.