AAPA: Asia Pacific airlines traffic results Feb-2010

Preliminary figures released today by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) provide further confirmation of an ongoing global economic recovery, with a continuing pickup in both passenger travel and air cargo demand. Collectively, airlines based in the Asia Pacific region transported 14.2 million international passengers in February, an increase of 16.9% compared to the same month last year. In revenue passenger kilometre (RPK) terms, international passenger traffic posted a 14.0% gain, indicating the relative strength of demand on routes within the region. The average passenger load factor for the month was 79.2%, reflecting stronger demand while  available seat capacity was only 2.4% higher than a year ago.