Low-cost airlines in China? - Orient Aviation

BUSINESS DIGEST
STATISTICS FOR OCTOBER AND SEPTEMBER, 2002
STRONG SHOWING CONTINUES
Compiled and presented by Kris Lim of the
Research and Statistics Department of the
Association of Asia Pacific Airlines Secretariat
OCTOBER 2002 STATISTICS
In October, the preliminary consolidated revenue passenger
kilometres (RPKs) for Association of Asia Pacific
Airlines (AAPA) member carriers grew 29.5% compared
to the same month in 2001. The number of passengers
carried (PAX) rose 26.2% to approximately 9.4 million.
Capacity climbed 7.1%, which resulted in an increase of 12.4
percentage points in load factor (PLF), to 73.5%.
These impressive traffic statistics were achieved in comparison
with the second month following the events of September 11, in
2001. Despite these distortions, the October 2002 consolidated
passenger traffic in RPKs and PAX grew by 2.4% and 7.4%, respectively,
when compared to October 2000 figures.
With the exception of Garuda Indonesia (GA), all carriers
reported strong RPK growth in the month under review.
Garuda’s RPKs were down 13.2% in October, due mainly to
the Bali bombing.
Japan Airlines (JL) and All Nippon Airways (NH) saw their
RPKs grow by more than 50% year-on-year (YOY). Asiana
Airlines (OZ) and Korean Air (KE) reported an RPK increase of
RPK Growth by Carrier
Percentage (Oct 02 vs Oct 01)
around 40%. The remaining carriers also reported double-digit
increases for October.
The RPKs recorded by the Japanese carriers, however,
remained significantly below the October 2000 level (down
9.3% in the case of Japan Airlines and 18.3% for All Nippon).
Garuda’s RPKs - down 19.8% from the October 2000 level - was
the other carrier with significantly weak traffic. However, the
majority of the remaining carriers were either close to reaching
or surpassed the level of RPKs reported in October 2000.
All carriers reported an increase in PLF, ranging from 6.9
percentage points (p.p.) for China Airlines (CI) to 30.6 p.p. for
All Nippon Airways. Nine carriers recorded load factors over
70%. Another four airlines achieved PLF’s between 60%-70%.
All Nippon Airways had the highest load factor of 76.8% in
October last year.
Cargo
The consolidated freight tonne kilometres (FTKs) of AAPA
member carriers increased 23.9% over 12 months earlier. Capacity
rose at a slower pace - 13.6% - allowing the freight load
factor (FLF) to reach 74.6%, 6.2 percentage points higher than
the FLF recorded in October 2001. It was the highest load factor
of the year with traffic and capacity growth following suit. The
shutdown of the West Coast ports in the U.S. may also have
PAX Growth by Carrier
Percentage (Oct 02 vs Oct 01)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
-10
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
-20
GA
BI CI SQ TG CX PR VN BR KE OZ NH JL
-10
GA
CI BI SQ PR CX TG BR
KE VN OZ JL NH
ROLLS-ROYCE NEWS DIGEST
“Rolls-Royce has signed a $200 million aftermarket service
contract with South African Airways for maintenance of Trent 500 engines.”
46 Orient Aviation, February 2003