David Casey | Editor-in-Chiefdavid.casey@informa.com
Asia-Pacific carriers enjoyed a strong and welcome international travel recovery during 2022, as countries across the region took further steps to ease travel restrictions and reopen their borders.
Figures published by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) detail that airlines carried 105 million international passengers last year, compared with just 17.4 million during the previous 12 months.
The traffic results, which reflect the performance of 40 Asia-Pacific airlines, also show that international ASKs during 2022 nearly tripled from 2021, while load factors for 2022 swelled 39.9 percentage points to 72.8%.
By December 2022, the number of international passengers carried climbed to 47.5% of pre-pandemic levels—a significant improvement from the 7% recorded in January.
The momentum generated during the latter part of 2022 has continued into this year, with the reopening of China set to further galvanize the industry.
Analysis of OAG data shows that 78 overseas airport pairs have been added to schedules from mainland China since December, while total international capacity has surged by 55%.
As China was one of the world’s largest tourism source markets before the pandemic—with a total expenditure of around $254 billion in 2019—the revival of outbound tourism will boost growth prospects in economies across the region and beyond.
Here in Thailand, international visitors have returned to cities, beaches, temples and national parks. And it’s a similar story across other tourism-dependent nations, making the picture for Asia-Pacific airlines, airports and destinations one of real optimism.
But challenges will continue even as the recovery picks up pace. Sadly, some regions will see staffing shortages, long processing times for passport and visa applications, and capacity constraints, as has happened in Europe and the US when surges in demand for air travel outpaced industry readiness.
And unhelpfully, many governments in North American, European and African countries introduced a range of restrictions in January targeted at incoming travelers from China, including pre-departure PCR tests. Japan also limited the number of flights from China, Hong Kong and Macau, while South Korea paused issuing tourist visas to Chinese visitors.
In retaliation, China stopped issuing short-term visas to South Koreans and Japanese visitors, forcing some airlines to cancel flights and reshuffle their schedules.
This goes against scientific data that shows such measures do not reduce virus case numbers or affect the spread of new COVID variants around the globe. They simply stifle demand and, therefore, economies—something none of these countries can afford to risk in 2023.
Carriers need certainty when rebuilding their networks and adding new services—and passengers need the confidence that their flights will operate. It is time for governments to listen to the experts, understand the data, and fully restore international connectivity.
