Aircraft leasing firm sees sustained aviation traffic growth in Asia

Local airlines are sharing the optimism of international aircraft leasing company Avolon, which projects sustained momentum for global aviation traffic with Asia driving the growth for air travel demand amid the further easing of border restrictions.

Avolon, in a recent statement, said that passenger movement was expected to recover to prepandemic levels by June, especially with the recent reopening of China.

This lifting of mobility restrictions is expected to propel the industry this year, the company said, noting that “for every two seats of airline capacity added in the world today, one is in Asia.”

“Aviation has demonstrated its resilience and is ready to thrive having come through a pandemic-driven two-thirds drop in traffic. The rebound in 2022 is set to continue in 2023, with China’s reopening helping to drive global traffic levels to prepandemic levels by June,” Avolon CEO Andy Cronin said.

Philippine Airline (PAL) spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the aviation sector continues to be buoyed by the so-called revenge travel after several flights were grounded in the past years due to the pandemic.

She noted that improving passenger loads and forward bookings were good indicators of the air travel demand resurgence.

“We remain upbeat amid these developments brought about by the global reopening of travel borders. We continue to work towards the full restoration of prepandemic levels,” the PAL representative said.

Recently, the flag carrier restarted its flights from Manila to Xiamen and Guangzhou. The airline’s routes to China were previously suspended for nearly three years due to the border restrictions.

AirAsia Philippines, meanwhile, described this year as “promising,” thus the slated reopening of more international and domestic routes to meet the demand moving forward.

The budget carrier is scheduled to restart its flights to Tokyo, Japan via the Narita International Airport next month.

“This is only the first salvo of our effort to expand our market here and abroad,” AirAsia Philippine said.

It is also eyeing to mount flights again to China following its reopening.

“We remain optimistic that the Philippine market will be able to recover strongly despite previous recession forecasts in the global economy,” the airline said.

The global aviation sector is expected to generate $4.7 billion in profits this year given the bullish outlook for recovery, Avolon said.