IATA’s January 2025 Industry Performance Outlook reported Asia-Pacific revenue passenger kilometres recovered to approximately 99% of 2019 baseline during 2024, completing the slowest of the regional recoveries. Northeast Asian markets including China and Japan lagged broader Pacific recovery rates due to delayed border reopening through 2023. Southeast Asia traffic clipped above 100% of 2019 by mid-2024, with the strongest performance in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand markets driven by intra-regional leisure demand.
Chinese Market Restoration
China’s outbound passenger volume recovered to roughly 88% of 2019 levels during 2024 per CAAC data, with the international segment lagging the domestic which already exceeds 2019. The slow pace reflects ongoing visa friction including Chinese visa pre-application requirements for many Schengen citizens reinstated since 2024, plus the high yen-vis-yuan exchange rate dampening Chinese outbound to Japan. CAAC’s 2025 outlook targets full recovery toward 105% of 2019 international volume.
Japanese Inbound Tourism Surge
Japan Tourism Agency reported approximately 31.8 million foreign visitors in 2024, a 28% increase against the 24.9 million 2019 record. The cherry blossom season March-April 2025 saw daily inbound at roughly 110,000-130,000 against the 75,000-95,000 daily 2019 baseline. The weak yen against the Euro drove the price-sensitive European leisure segment, with package tour bookings to Japan from France, Germany and Italy up 35-50% year-on-year.
Premium Cabin Recovery Patterns
Asian premium cabin yield retained approximately 22% above 2019 baseline through 2024 per IATA estimates, reflecting business travel resilience and the leisure spillover of post-pandemic discretionary affluent travel. The trend favours full-service Asian carriers with mature premium cabin products: Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, ANA and JAL. European carriers operating Asian routes including BA, Lufthansa, Air France, KLM and Finnair report similar premium yield retention, supporting continued widebody capacity additions through 2026.