Asia-Pacific airlines are continuing their post-Covid recovery since the lifting of most travel restrictions in the region, but they won’t reach 2019 levels until “probably the later part of 2024,” according to Subhas Menon, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA). In February, traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) stood at 52 percent of 2019 levels and Asia-Pacific accounted for a 25 percent share of the global RPKs, compared to 36 percent pre-pandemic.
This slow recovery “is in some way a good thing,” Menon contended, because it will provide the region’s airlines the opportunity to gradually build up their fleets and staffing to cope with the high pent-up demand without the kind of disruptions experienced during the previous summer in Europe and the U.S. Moreover, it will allow for sustainable growth as climate awareness expands across the region. AAPA’s 40 member airlines “are training their guard on sustainability,” he told AIN following meetings with European Commission officials in Brussels.
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