Preliminary traffic results for March 2006 show that member airlines of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) carried more than 11 million international passengers during the month, a growth of +3.7%. Traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) terms rose +4.1% and, coupled with a slower 2.3% expansion of capacity, the passenger load factor improved by 1.3 percentage points to 74.4%.

Commenting on the figures, Mr. Andrew Herdman, AAPA`s Director General, said: The first three months of 2006 have seen further solid traffic growth, with international passenger numbers up 4.7% year to date. These figures reflect generally positive macro-economic conditions. However, airlines remain very concerned about the impact of high oil prices which are inevitably putting further pressure on margins, only partially recovered by increases in fuel surcharges and other fare adjustments.