Asia-Pacific airline capacity recovery accelerates by 27% in Q1 2023

IBA’s Aviation Industry Barometer for March 2023 found that Asia-Pacific airline capacity reached 83% of 2019 ASKs in March 2023 – a jump of 27% in the first quarter of this year.

In addition to this, data from IBA’s Insight aviation intelligence platform showed that in March:

• Monthly global passenger capacity reached 92% pre-pandemic ASKs in March 2023, an improvement of +1% compared to February 2023.

• Carriers from North America, Latin America and Africa have already reached pre-pandemic ASKs.

• European and Middle East operators are, for the most part, currently trending around the global average.

• Asia-Pacific operators have now reached 83% of 2019 ASKs, an increase from 63% in December 2022.

• Overall, there were approximately 2.61 million commercial passenger flights in March 2023, compared to 2.30 million in February 2023, while 2.03 million flights were recorded in March 2022.

• There were 130 commercial aircraft deliveries in March 2023, representing a month-on-month and year-on-year gain of 71% and 34% respectively.

• Both Airbus and Boeing are head-to-head in commercial deliveries so far this year, each having delivered 111 aircraft from January through to March.

• By comparison, Airbus and Boeing delivered around 300 aircraft between them in the same period in 2019.

• Despite strong orderbooks, deliveries have been slightly subdued this year against a backdrop of supply chain issues.