THAILAND

Last year produced mixed results for airlines in the Asia-Pacific, with relatively strong growth in international passenger traffic but a downturn in transnational air cargo shipments.

The region's carriers including the likes of Thai Airways International and Singapore Airlines, carried 190 million passengers in 2011, up by 3.5% from 2010.

By contrast, air cargo, expressed in "freight tonne kilometres", dropped by 4.8% last year following a strong rebound in 2010, according to the preliminary figures released yesterday by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA).

The region's sustained economic growth supported both business and leisure travel demand, while the fall in cargo traffic reflected cautious management of supply chain inventories in the expectation of relatively weaker growth prospects for the major developed economies, said director-general Andrew Herdman.

"Despite a series of natural disasters including the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, growth in international passenger traffic for Asian airlines held up relatively well in 2011," he said.

International passenger traffic, measured in "revenue passenger kilometres", grew by 3.7%. Capacity growth for the year was a relatively optimistic 6.3%, resulting in a two-percentage-point fall in the average international passenger load factor to 76.4%.

Despite the decline in freight demand, offered freight capacity in 2011 matched the previous year's level, leading to a 3.4-percentage-point decline in the average international freight load factor to 66.6%.

This year's outlook for Asia-Pacific carriers, like that of their counterparts elsewhere in the world, looks cloudy.

"Uncertainty over the prospects for the global economy in 2012 has somewhat overshadowed the immediate outlook, and airlines worldwide are bracing themselves for another challenging year ahead," Mr Herdman.

The International Air Transport Association earlier said given unresolved concerns about the euro-zone debt crisis and spreading uncertainty about the global economic outlook for 2012, global airlines could lose up to US$8 billion this year, a reversal from the forecast $6.9-billion profit for last year.

However, the AAPA said Asian airlines remain optimistic about longer-term growth prospects, as evidenced by ambitious fleet plans, ongoing service enhancements and the launch of innovative new business ventures.