The results for 2019 are still a long way off for the major airports in South-East Asia. But all the region's hubs returned to growth last year, putting an end to the vertiginous fall in passenger traffic that they had experienced in 2021.
On average passenger traffic at these major airports accounted for between 40% and 50% of the traffic recorded in 2019the last year before covid. A figure that confirms the estimates of the ACI airport association for Asia Pacific. Last November, the association predicted a traffic level of 45% for the region as a whole in 2022, i.e. 1.8 billion passengers..
Domestic demand, the driving force behind aviation activity in ASEAN
Southeast Asia, the best-performing airports were those of Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta. With 34 million passengers last year, the Vietnamese hub will have recovered 83% of its 2019 traffic. Even if this upturn is entirely due to domestic traffic. The same source of growth in Jakarta: with 40.54 million passengers, the Indonesian capital's airport will have reached 74% of its 2019 level (54.5 million). But international traffic remained in limbo, at just 7.5 million passengers.
However, Jakarta is the largest airport in the ASEAN region. in terms of traffic. No other airport in South-East Asia has managed to exceed 35 million passengers.
Kuala Lumpur International (KLIA) recorded just 41% of its 2019 traffic last year - 25.37 million compared with 62.3 million passengers in 2019. Surprisingly, low-cost traffic, usually the engine of growth at KLIA, will have remained at half-mast. Despite the resumption of many of the airline's international routes AirAsiaThe terminal reserved for low-cost airlines, KLIA2, only reached 36% of its 2019 traffic.
As for Manila-NAIAAs the fourth busiest airport in Southeast Asia before the crisis, the lack of international traffic weighed on the performance of the gateway to the Philippines last year. In the first 10 months of 2022, the airport welcomed 23.6 million passengers, down 41% on the same period in 2019. With international passenger volumes representing just 36% of 2019's figures...
Bangkok and Singapore strengthen their international dominance
That leaves the two major intercontinental hubs in South-East Asia: Bangkok and Singapore.
The Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airport system handled 44.8 million passengers last year, compared with 105.72 million in 2019. Suvarnabhumi, the hub of Thai Airways International and its Star Alliance28.75 million. The platform recovered 44.5% of its 2019 level.This was a record year, with 64.71 million passengers. Its traffic levels should be more in line with its positioning as a hub by 2023. Thai Airways International and its subsidiary Thai Smile have announced the expansion of their pre-Covid network..
Paradoxically, domestic and low-cost traffic did not enjoy the upturn hoped for at Bangkok-Don Mueang. With 16.13 million passengers in 2022, the airport has only recovered 39.3% of its 2019 traffic. In fact, Don Mueang suffered last year from theabsence of Chinese travellers.
From his side, Singapore-Changi has managed the resumption of traffic rather well. The City-State reopened to international travellers in the second quarter of 2022. This resulted in a total of 32.2 million passengers last year, equivalent to 47.14% of the 2019 level.
The outlook for this year is fairly good, particularly for Singapore Airlines. The capacity offered at the end of December 2022 was again 80% in the pre-Covid period. For 2023, according to JoAnn Tan, Senior Vice President Marketing Planning, the airline will above all be increasing its frequencies in Asia and Australia. " As we re-establish our network to this part of the world, these regions are reaching levels closer to those prior to the pandemic." she explains.
Lower passenger numbers, an opportunity for airport expansion
However, the low levels of passenger numbers in South-East Asian airports will have had a positive effect. Terminals that were saturated before Covid have regained some space. Particularly in Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.
For the past ten years, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi has had to cope with traffic far exceeding its initial capacity of 45 million passengers a year. This year should see the inauguration of a satellite for 15 million passengers, reserved for Thai Airways International and its partners..
In Saigon, the authorities are struggling to accommodate more than 40 million passengers in a terminal designed to handle 25 million. The first sod has just been turned at the construction of Terminal 3 with a capacity of 20 million passengers. Opening planned for end 2024 the authorities promise.
For 2023, however, the reopening of China should speed up the recovery of passenger traffic.. A general progression can be expected which would allow a general level of traffic in the region of 80% pre-Covid.
This optimism is underlined by Subhas Menon, Managing Director of AAPAAssociation of Asia-Pacific Airlines. " 2022 marked the start of a long-awaited recovery in international travel markets. The outlook for 2023 is largely positive, particularly for passenger transport. The recovery is set to continue over the coming months, driven by a strong appetite for travel. In particular, therecent easing of restrictions on travel to China should stimulate demandhe says.
