Passenger Traffic Soars After SARS Sweeps Asia Says RBA
By Maya Salleh

Bandar Seri Begawan - Royal Brunei Airlines passenger traffic continues to rise steadily after coming out of the dire impact brought about by last year's SARS outbreak and war concerns.

RBA disclosed that its passenger traffic rose to 48.9 per cent in May this year compared to last year.

The highest growth came from its North Asian routes, which showed a whopping 353.2 per cent increase. When broken down into areas, Borneo contributed a substantial increase of 270.3 per cent, Southeast Asia an increase of 62.9 per cent, Europe went up by 34.3 per cent and Middle East/Indian Sub Continent rose by 0.6 per cent.

RBA's passenger traffic rebound has contributed significantly to the international air passenger traffic as it has risen to an overall 19.4 per cent between January and May this year compared to the same period last year, according to the global body International Air Transport Association.

The IATA also concluded that freight traffic over the same five months was up by 12.2 per cent and Director-General Giovanni Bisignani positively commented. "Not only have we recovered from the impact of SARS and war in Iraq, all major regions of the world are reporting traffic levels above those of 2000, the last normal year for our industry."

It was reported that in May alone, passengers on all international routes were up by 38 per cent from May last year when the industry was suffering from the impact of the SARS epidemic that swept Asia and Canada and fallout from the invasion of Iraq.

The IATA figures revealed a more dramatic recovery for Asian airlines as the traffic in the region increased by 108 per cent, indicating the 'SARS effect' was well and truly over.

The IATA also reported that the January-May figures showed that passenger traffic was up by 8.8 per cent over the same period in 2000, just before the onset of a global economic downturn, which set the industry on a steep downward path.

The decline was sharpened by a growing global political instability post September 11 attacks in the United States back in 2001, followed by the US-led assaults on Afghanistan and Iraq, global terrorism, and the SARS crisis.

Earlier this year, airline chiefs feared that steep rises in oil prices would hit the industry's overall global bottom-line, but Bisignani, in a statement on the figures, said a recent decline in price ad helped improve the situation.

However, efficiency gains and cost-cutting would have to remain as priorities for airlines if the industry was to return to full health, he declared.

IATA further reported that despite the shocks that had rocked the industry over the past four years, its underlying growth rate was 3.6 per cent a year. However, this is still only half the rate achieved during the late 1990s.

Of the major regions apart from Asia, North America saw a passenger growth of 32.8 per cent in the first five months of the year and Europe saw an increase of 19.1 per cent. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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