ASIA PACIFIC. Airlines in Asia Pacific region are steadily increasing load factors to restore profitability levels, according to the latest edition of Asia Pacific Airline Daily, published by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.
The Centre said that its survey of December 2003 traffic statistics (see summary statistics below) “shows generally significant load factor improvement, indicating that capacity is in most cases now being more carefully managed, as airlines seek to improve profitability with still-weak yields”. In some cases there were exceptional load factor improvements, led by Continental (12.3%) and Delta (7.8%). Major Pacific carriers United and Northwest both operated at a “very creditable” 85% load factor.
Trans-Pacific routes in particular now appear to be becoming generally very tightly held, the report said.
Airlines reported uneven growth in passenger traffic in December, but North American carriers reported healthier traffic growth to the region than their European counterparts.
Meanwhile, China Eastern and China Southern are outstripping Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines’ capacity by a large margin, with China Eastern’s available seat kilometres up +25.8% against December 2002 – with traffic growing even faster.
Asia Pacific carriers (all services) Dec 03 vs Dec 02
RPKs ASKs PLF
China Eastern Airlines +27.0% +25.8% 60.7%, +1.7 ppts
China Southern Airlines +12.0% +7.5% 63.0%, +2.5 ppts
Cathay Pacific +2.7% +2.8% 77.5%, +0.0 ppts
Singapore Airlines +0.0% -4.2% 79.4%, +3.2 ppts
European carriers (Asia Pacific operations only)
RPKs ASKs PLF
Finnair +38.5% +33.1% 78.3%, +3.9 ppts
British Airways +4.5% +4.7% 75.6%, -0.1 ppts
Air France +0.8% -3.3% 82.5%, +3.4 ppts
Lufthansa +1.5% -1.1% 73.7%, +1.8 ppts
KLM -7.0% -15.0% 80.8%, +6.6 ppts
North American carriers (Asia Pacific operations only)
RPMs ASMs PLF
Continental Airlines +26.6% +6.1% 75.9%, +12.3 ppts
Air Canada +16.5% +11.6% 82.4%, +3.4 ppts
Delta Air Lines +11.4% +1.1% 84.3%, +7.8 ppts
American Airlines +6.8%, +1.4% 79.4%, +3.9 ppts
United Airlines +2.4% -4.3% 84.6%, +5.5 ppts
Northwest Airlines -13.7% -15.7% 85.2%, +2.0 ppts
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