Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #35

ASIA PACIFIC
AIR TRANSPORT
APAC LEADS AIR PASSENGER
IATA predicts Asia Pacific will be the world’s fastest growing
Asia Pacific today represented some 1.3 billion passengers last year - 33% of all air
passengers in the world. And this number could reach 50% within 20 years according
to the latest forecasts by the International Air Transport Association.
The International Air
Transport Association
(IATA) continues to see Asia
Pacific as a major engine
to passenger growth. The
association forecasts 7.2
billion passengers by 2035,
compared to an expected
4.1 billion air travellers this
year. This is based on a 3.7%
annual Compound Average
Growth Rate (CAGR) noted
in the release of the latest
update to the association’s
20-Year air passenger
forecast.
The passenger growth
forecast thus confirms that
the biggest driver of demand
will be the Asia-Pacific
region. Asia Pacific is already
the largest world market
representing close to 33%
of all passengers (18.2% of
all international passengers
traffic in second position
after Europe). The continent
is expected to be the source
of more than half the new
passengers over the next 20
years.
China will displace the
US as the world’s largest
aviation market (defined by
traffic to, from and within
the country) around 2029.
India will displace the UK for
third place in 2026, while
Indonesia enters the top ten
at the expense of Italy.
Routes to, from and within
Asia-Pacific will see an extra
1.8 billion annual passengers
by 2035, for an overall
market size of 3.1 billion. Its
annual average growth rate
of 4.7% will be the secondhighest,
behind the Middle
East. For 2017, passenger
traffic in Asia Pacific is
likely to be primarily driven
by booming passengers
demand on domestic routes
from China and India.
Both countries have been
seeing double-digit growth
SINCE THE
BEGINNING OF
THE YEAR, THE
FASTEST GROWING
SEGMENT OUT OF
ASIA HAS BEEN
ROUTES TO EUROPE
WITH REVENUE/
PASSENGERS/KM
UP BY 11.7% ON
AVERAGE BETWEEN
FEBRUARY AND
APRIL 2017.
REVENUE
PASSENGER/KM
FOR ASIA
PACIFIC
% change to previous year 2016 Feb-17 Mar-17 Apr-17
Asia Pacific 9.0 6.9 10.3 10.7
World 6.3 5.1 6.5 10.7
India Domestic 23.3 17.0 14.9 15.3
Japan Domestic 0.7 1.9 8.1 6.6
Australia Domestic 1.6 2.9 0.7 2.1
Asia-Europe 1.8 9.5 11.2 14.5
Within Asia 7.3 4.1 7.0 7.1
Asia-North America 6.4 3.1 6.4 8.6
Asia-Middle East 9.0 5.7 4.5 10.0
SouthWest Pacific- North/South America 15.5 10.4 14.2 12.3
Asia-Africa 6.8 1.3 3.5 4.7
Source: IATA Statistics
Note: historical data may be subject to revision