Asia Pacific air cargo declines 6% in 2008

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) released preliminary traffic figures for the full year 2008. AAPA member airlines carried 141.5 million international passengers in 2008, 1.8% fewer than the record levels achieved in 2007. Passenger traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) terms was down by 1.0%. Capacity growth for the year was 1.7%, whilst the average passenger load factor fell two percentage points to 75.1%.

AAPA international air cargo traffic for 2008, expressed in freight tonne kilometres (FTKs), suffered a more significant decline, 6.1% lower than the record set in the previous year. Member airlines reduced cargo capacity accordingly, but the average cargo load factor for the year still fell by one percentage point to 65.6%. <Korea Shipping Gazette>