5 key facts about the Asia Pacific aviation market

This guest post is from the experts at Baltic Aviation Academy – a specialist training centre in Lithuania which trains airline pilots. They are constantly investigating the characteristics of various aviation markets. This article summarizes research results of the Asia Pacific aviation market by pointing out five key facts.

1.    Asia Pacific accounts for a 34% of the global passenger traffic.

A few hundred years ago the journey from China to Europe took tea traders a year. By ship in 2012 it takes almost a month, by air it will last about 10 hours. The demand for flying in the Asia Pacific region is high and it continues to grow further due to constantly increasing population. At the moment the region has 359 airlines operating in 1207 commercial airports, executes about 6247000 flights and transports about 779 565 798 passengers a year. This results in Asia Pacific accounting for more than one third of the total global passenger traffic.

1. 2.    Asia Pacific soon will become the second-largest world region for air traffic.

A large share of the global passenger traffic speaks for itself, but it is also useful to compare the situation with the rest of the world. The Asian Pacific international traffic level is projected to grow by 6.9% annually in the period between 2010 and 2015. This will place Asia Pacific as the second-largest world region for air traffic after the Middle East. International traffic level for Europe is expected to grow at 5%, while the world’s average is projected to climb up by 5.8%.

1. 3.    The fleet of airlines operating in the region concentrates on A320 and B737.

Even though the regions’ fleet is quite diversified, the largest share belongs to Airbus and Boeing. Two most popular aircraft models are A320 and B737, while the top-five also includes B777, A330 and B747. The majority of confirmed orders for new aircraft is composed of these types as well, but also includes new A320 NEO and B787. The most common Non-Boeing/Airbus aircrafts exploited in the region are ATR, DHC-8 and ERJ190.

1. 4.    The demand for Full Flight Simulators in the region is expected to grow dramatically.

240 Full Flight Simulators are currently operating in the region. However, the number is about to change significantly in the future. At least 20-30 new FFS will be needed in the next 3 years, while the total number of FFS demanded is expected to reach about 500 in 2030.

1. 5.    Asia Pacific region will be the biggest customer for new pilots over the next 20 years.

According to Boeing estimates, from year 2011 to 2030 the world will need 460,000 new pilots along with Asia-Pacific area accounting for 40% of the number. This means that the region will face a need of 9,684 pilots per year, which will make it the main customer in this type of labor market.

‘We see a huge demand for senior specialists – highly experienced pilots and instructors who could train the excessive number of pilots-beginners in order to reduce the lack of qualified professionals faster. In terms of resourcing professional aviation training instructors, Baltic Aviation Academy has already achieved major success in the markets across Central Asia, so the next logical step is to address the Asian-Pacific region,’ commented Egle Vaitkeviciute, Chief Executive Officer at Baltic Aviation Academy.

Baltic Aviation Academy is addressing the rapid expansion of Asia Pacific market and its future needs of qualified aviation personnel by taking the initiative to adapt European standard training programs and assigning its aviation specialists to the regions.

Starting with 2012 the Academy has been actively participating in aviation events and air shows. On the 28 – 29th of August together with partners from the Bird Group, Baltic Aviation  Academy will arrange a keynote entitled ‘Strategic View to Pilot Training: External TRTO Provider VS In-house Base‘ in Asia Pacific Airline Training Symposium (APATS) 2012, held in Singapore.