India continues to be Asia-Pacific’s largest outbound market

India continues to be Asia-Pacific’s largest outbound market

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese may have timed his trip to India just right, with a new report from Cirium revealing India continues to be Asia-Pacific’s largest outbound market.

India was again the largest outbound market by seat capacity in February, but recent months have seen peers in the region closing in as recovery accelerates.

Albanese left Perth yesterday, taking with him Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce.

The number of seats departing from India daily has exceeded the 100,000-mark since October 2022, Piyush Chawla, managing director, APAC, Cirium, told a the Inter Airport South East Asia 2023 conference in Singapore.

Not far behind are Japan, Thailand, South Korea and Singapore, where daily departing seats in the 80,000-100,000 range, Cirium utilisation data filed on 12 February shows.

China has yet to reclaim its top spot, given its international recovery has only begun to take shape.

As a region, international seats departing from Asia-Pacific countries remains 40% below 2019 levels in February, at slightly over one million seats daily, mainly due to the slow return of China’s outbound market.

Supplied by Cirium

The patchy recovery amid the pandemic has slightly altered the leader board in terms of outbound market share among Asia-Pacific countries by seat capacity.

Unsurprisingly, China has ceded its top position amid the pandemic, its 16% share of departing seats in February 2019 falling to just 5% in February, whereas India has expanded from 6% to 10%. Japan, Thailand and South Korea remained the same between 8-10%.

Moreover, projections indicate that China’s international recovery will continue to gather speed, with daily capacity projected to improve through the first quarter and stabilise at around 65% below 2019 equivalent in the second quarter.

Supplied by Cirium

This is amid broader trends that indicate recovery in terms of fleet utilisation levels in February.

Asia-Pacific’s single-aisle fleet utilization has stabilized around 12% below 2019-equivalent levels, while the twin-aisle fleet has continued its recovery to 24% below same benchmark.

Supplied by Cirium

For China alone, the single-aisle fleet has surpassed the February 2019 equivalent by 7%, while the twin-aisle fleet is just 16% down.

Latest News

  • Cruise

P&O rescues Rotary volunteers after collapse of Air Vanuatu

P&O Cruises Australia has answered a plea for help from a group of young Australian Rotary volunteers, stranded in Vanuatu following the collapse of Air Vanuatu. The students, many of them teenagers from Albury, NSW, were volunteering for a youth project run by the Hive Rotary Club Australia when the airline abruptly cancelled all flights, […]

  • Destinations

Intrepid continues expansions with launch of first DMC in Jordan

Intrepid has increased its presence in the Middle East with the opening of its first destination management company in Jordan. Based in Amman, the local team will operate Intrepid’s range of nine experiential small group tours in Jordan from this summer, with a view to expanding the range for 2025 and beyond. Zina Bencheikh, managing […]

  • Appointments

Minor hotels appoints Puneet Dhawan to key Asia role

Global hotel owner and operator Minor Hotels has appointed Puneet Dhawan as head of Asia as the group plots its growth in Asia and India. From July, Dhawan will be responsible for the performance of all Minor Hotels properties in Asia, working in close collaboration with the Minor Hotels senior leadership team and will report […]

  • Appointments

Abercrombie & Kent and Crystal appoint Evon Ler to director of sales, Asia

Abercrombie & Kent Travel Group have announced that Evon Ler will join them in the new role of director of sales, Asia. She will work closely with Tony Archbold (VP, Sales, APAC, Crystal) and Susan Haberle (VP, Sales & Partnerships, APAC, A&K) with trade support across the region. Ler comes to the A&K family with more […]