Asia-Pacific region overhauls North America in air travel

Singapore: Air travel in the Asia-Pacific region overhauled that of North America for the first time last year, and China has now emerged as the world's strongest single nation aviation market, according to industry trade body, IATA.

The Director general of the International Air Transport Association, Giovanni Bisignani, informed a conference in Singapore that the Asia-Pacific region clocked 647 million passenger journeys last year, which was 7 million more than for the North America region, which combines the US, Canada and Mexico.

According to IATA data, the Asia-Pacific region now commands more than 25 per cent of the world passenger aviation market. The region includes Australia and New Zealand, but not the Middle East.

Bisignani has credited the accelerated rise of the Asia-Pacific market to the global financial crisis, which prompted substantial cuts in US capacity.

Passenger and cargo traffic have shown rapid recovery from the global financial crisis.

He has also stressed that the Asia-Pacific region would retain its position as the world's number one market because of its much higher rate of growth in gross domestic product, which is the main driver for aviation passenger demand.