CHARM OFFENSIVE - Orient Aviation

B U s i n e s s D i g e s tFreight traffic fallsfor third monthCompiled and presented by Kris Lim of the Researchand Statistics Department of the Association of AsiaPacific Airlines SecretariatThe consolidated passenger traffic growth rates of theAssociation of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) membersdeteriorated further in May 2001: revenue passengerkilometres (RPKs) contracted marginally by 0.04%, while passengerscarried (PAX) managed to record a slight year-on-year increase of1.7%. Seat capacity rose 4.7% (a similar year-on-year increase tothe previous two months) resulting in a 3.2 percentage point dropin passenger load factor (PLF) to 68.2%.Vietnam Airlines (VN) and Royal Brunei Airlines (BI) continuedto demonstrate strong growth in the month under review. Sevenother carriers managed to post positive growth ranging from0.1% (Singapore Airlines – SQ) to 7.0% (Garuda Indonesia – GA).However, four carriers, led by All Nippon Airways (NH – minus16.5%), experienced a contraction in traffic. EVA Air’s (BR) RPKsshrank by 4.7%, Japan Airlines (JL) and Cathay Pacific Airways (CX)by 2.0% and 0.6%, respectively.The majority of carriers experienced a decline in PLF as trafficworsened while capacity growth remained positive. Five SoutheastAsia-based carriers increased their capacity from 10.7% (ThaiAirways International – TG) to 46.3% (Vietnam Airlines) in May.The traffic generated failed to match the capacity increase andthe carriers saw their load factors decline significantly: GarudaIndonesia’s PLF fell 10.7 percentage points, while the load factorof Vietnam Airlines was down 8.9 percentage points, PhilippineAirlines (PR) down 6.8 percentage points and Thai AirwaysInternational down 3.8 percentage points. Only Royal Brunei(5.4 percentage points), Ansett Australia (AN – 9.0 percentagepoints) and China Airlines (CI – 1.4 percentage points) showedimprovement.Four carriers filled more than 70% of their capacity – EVA Air(75.6%), China Airlines (75.1%), Asiana Airlines (OZ – 73.7%) andPhilippine Airlines (72.3%).Cargo ResultsAAPA members’ freight traffic contracted for the third straightmonth. Freight tonne kilometres (FTKs) were down 8.8% year-onyear.Capacity increased 6.0%, reducing the load factor (FLF) by9.6 percentage points to 58.3%. The percentage decline in trafficwas less severe than in the preceding month, but the drop in loadfactor was equally sharp as capacity growth in May was the highestsince November 2000.With the exception of Ansett Australia (16.7%) and VietnamAirlines (16.6%), all the carriers experienced a drop in their freighttraffic. All Nippon Airways (-24.9%) suffered the biggest drop.Philippine Airlines, EVA Air, Japan Airlines and Royal Brunei Airlinesalso experienced double-digit contractions in freight traffic.All carriers reported a decline in load factor. Despite cuttingcapacity, All Nippon Airways and Singapore Airlines experienced30RPK Growth by CarrierPercentage (May 01 vs May 00)30PAX Growth by CarrierPercentage (May 01 vs May 00)2020101000-10-10-20NHBR JL CX SQ ANOZPRCI TG GA BI VN-20NHCXJLPRBRTGSQAN CI BI GA OZ VN48 | Orient Aviation | September 2001