geoff dixon - Orient Aviation

BUSINESS DIGEST: AUGUST STATISTICS
Airline Codes
BI Royal Brunei Airlines MH Malaysia Airlines
BR EVA Airlines
NH All Nippon Airways
CI China Airlines OZ Asiana Airlines
CX Cathay Pacific PR Philippine Airlines
GA Garuda
SQ Singapore Airlines
JL Japan Airlines TG Thai Airways Int’l
KE Korean Airlines VN Vietnam Airlines
KA Dragonair
Percentage
Percentage Points Change
(Aug 05 vs Aug 04)
(Aug 05 vs Aug 04)
Percentage
Percentage Points Change
(Sep 04-Aug 05 vs Sep 03-Aug 04) (Sep 04-Aug 05 vs Sep 03-Aug 04)
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
-5%
-10%
-15%
RPK Growth by Carrier
-20%
BI BR CI CX GA JL KA KE MH NH OZ PR SQ TG VN
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
-4
-5
-6
Passenger Load Factor
Growth by Carrier
BI BR CI CX GA JL KA KE MH NH OZ PR SQ TG VN
Cargo demand softens
Compiled and presented by KRIS LIM of the Research and Statistics
Department of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines Secretariat.
The number of international
passengers carried by Association
of Asia Pacific Airlines
(AAPA) members in August
grew 3.7% to 11.5 million
compared to the same month a year earlier.
In terms of revenue passenger kilometres
(RPKs), passenger traffic rose 4.4% on a
capacity increase of 3.6%. This resulted
in a 0.6 percentage point improvement in
passenger load factor (PLF) to 75.9%.
Passenger traffic growth patterns (in
RPK terms) varied significantly among
AAPA airlines. Five carriers posted robust
growth: Cathay Pacific Airways 14%, EVA
Air 12.9%, China Airlines 12.7%, Malaysia
Airlines 11.9% and Korean Air 10.1%.
Growth for Vietnam Airlines (8.6%),
Singapore Airlines (5.5%) and Thai Airways
International (1.5%) was more modest. On
the other hand, six carriers experienced
declining traffic, with Garuda Indonesia
(20%) posting the largest drop in traffic
followed by Asiana Airlines (18%), which
had been affected by industrial action.
Passenger load factors for the majority
of AAPA carriers showed little change from
August 2004. EVA Air, China Airlines and
Cathay Pacific filled more than 80% of their
seats, while nine carriers registered PLFs
RPK and ASK (In Billions)
RPK and ASK (In Percentage)
40
RPK, ASK and PLF Growth Rates
(Sep 04 to Aug 05)
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
-10
-20
S
RPK, ASK and PLF
(Sep 04 to Aug 05)
RPK
ASK
PLF
O N
2004
D
J
A M
2005
S O N D J F M A M J
2004 vs. 2003 2005 vs. 2004
F
M
J
J
RPK
ASK
PLF
J
A
A
80
60
40
20
0
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
-10
-20
PLF (In Percentage)
PLF (In Percentage Points)
between 70% and 80%. Japan Airlines’
load factor was slightly below 70%, while
Dragonair reported the lowest load factor
at 63.7%.
FREIGHT
International freight traffic grew only
0.9% in freight tonne kilometres (FTK)
terms. Capacity, however, rose 3%, dragging
down the freight load factor (FLF) by
1.3 percentage points to 63.9%.
Despite softening demand, eight carriers
reported FTK growth, with Dragonair
(17.2%), Cathay Pacific (13.6%) and Thai
Airways International (10.2%) posting
double-digit increases. Philippine Airlines,
Royal Brunei Airlines and Singapore Airlines
recorded 6% volume growth. Seven
carriers registered negative freight growth,
with Asiana Airlines suffering the largest
decline (36.4%) as a result of industrial
action disrupting their schedule.
Three carriers reported improvements
in FLFs – Royal Brunei Airlines, Garuda
Indonesia and Korean Air – although
this mainly ref lected lower capacity
relative to traffic volume. Thai Airways
International, however, increased
capacity 7.6% in August, but double-digit
traffic growth allowed the carrier to post
56 ORIENT AVIATION DECEMBER 2005-JANUARY 2006