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Asia-Pacific air travel tops North America's

Charlotte So

For the first time since the dawn of aviation, more passengers took flights in the Asia-Pacific region than in North America last year - thanks in part to economic growth in China and India.

People made 647 million journeys in the region last year, but only 638 million in North America, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) said yesterday. Iata includes Australia and New Zealand in the region and excludes the Middle East.

Globally, passenger numbers last year dropped 3.5 per cent.

Asian carriers have begun restoring to their schedules flights cut during the global financial crisis. Dragonair announced additions yesterday. From May 1 the Hong Kong-based carrier will fly to Hanoi 10 times a week, up from once a day now, and operate flights twice a day, instead of 12 times a week, to the southeastern city of Nanjing and to Chengdu in the southwest. Last week parent company Cathay Pacific announced it would restore flights to Seoul to pre-crisis levels.

'Demand for both business and leisure travel has started to pick up, particularly in the mainland market,' Dragonair chief executive James Tong said.

The mainland is the growth engine in the region. Passenger numbers there rose 19.7 per cent year-on-year in 2009. The fleets of mainland carriers have more than doubled from 480 aircraft 10 years ago to 1,400 aircraft now.

An Iata official said the Asia- Pacific region was likely to stay ahead of North America.

The potential for growth in the mainland aviation market is unparalleled. Its population of 1.3 billion is served by only three-tenths of an aircraft seat per person, compared with three seats per person in the US, with its population of 300 million.

'When Asians travel as frequently as people in the US, that alone will triple the size of today's global industry,' Giovanni Bisignani, Iata's director general and chief executive, said.

By 2013, an additional 217 million travellers per year are expected to take to the skies within the Asia- Pacific region, the trade body said.

Two of the world's five most profitable airlines are based in the region. Still, its carriers faced many of the same challenges as airlines elsewhere, and some unique ones too, Bisignani said.

Mainland carriers must adjust to new global trade patterns, while India's must cut costs and improve infrastructure, he said.

Frequent flyers

North America logged 638 million passenger trips last year, fewer than the number in Asia-Pacific, at: 647m

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