Lufthansa Group is seeing a rapid return in bookings to Asia-Pacific, which should flip the region from being a drag on performance to a source of advantage as the recovery there gains pace. Passenger numbers to Asia-Pacific are now at around 80% of pre-pandemic levels, the group's finance chief Remco Steenbergen during a call on 2023 results. That compares with a roughly full recovery elsewhere. Overall, group passenger numbers were at 84% of pre-pandemic levels last year. The group is seeing a strong performance on some Asian routes in particular. Chief executive Carsten Spohr says Hong Kong is "strong", and that pre-Covid levels on being regained on routes to India, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand. Demand is strong for travel to Japan, but less so from the country. China is "a bit slower", Spohr acknowledges. "In relative terms, after three years of downside to Lufthansa being overexposed to Asia, this will now turn to upside," Spohr predicts, in the expectation that demand to and from the continent will rise in line with wider recovery. "You should now buy shares quickly," he quipped. The German group has long had a strong presence in Asia, but sales there were stymied by lockdowns and travel restrictions maintained long after the rest of the world had opened up following the pandemic's abatement. The closure of Russian airspace following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 also means that Lufthansa flights have to avoid the country, adding flight time and cost. But Spohr says this has paradoxically resulted in the group being "in some ways advantaged", as many travellers actively want to avoid Russian airspace. Many countries' airlines, notably China's, still fly across Russia. Responding to a question about Lufthansa’s presence in South America, Spohr said he "would love" to increase this but that the group lacked the Boeing 787s that were the best fit for the market. Boeing 777s are "too large" for the continent, he says, while Airbus A340s are "not efficient enough". He adds: "Once we have more 787s, you'll see us being more involved in that market." Data shows that Lufthansa mainline served seven destinations across Latin America last July, while Swiss flew to two.

Airbus has delivered 49 aircraft to 28 customers in February. The European airframer says deliveries included two A330-900 and two A350 widebody aircraft as well as 18 A320neos, 21 A321neos, and six A220-300s. Airbus delivered one A350-900 to Turkish Airlines, one A350-1000 to British Airways, and two A330-900s – one each to Avolon and Cebu Pacific. Air Baltic and Delta Air Lines acquired one A220-300 each whereas Breeze Airways and JetBlue Airways received two A220-300s each. The airframer delivered 18 A320neos, including three to SMBC Aviation Capital, four to IndiGo, and two to EasyJet, while Bocom Leasing, CMB Financial Leasing, SAS, Spirit Airlines, NAS Aviation Services, CALC, Lufthansa, Air Lease Corporation and Flynas acquired one each. As for the A321neo aircraft, SMBC Aviation Capital, Flynas, Aviation Capital Group, CALC, Vietjet, Turkish Airlines, Cathay Pacific, ALC, and United Airlines have received one each while ICBC Leasing, Delta Air Lines, and Volaris got two and Frontier and Wizz Air got three aircraft each. Total deliveries for the year stood at 79 on 29 February. In February 2024, Airbus took orders for a total of two units of A350-900 from an undisclosed customer. No orders were cancelled in February.

Global passenger demand, measured in revenue passenger-kilometres, grew by 16.6% year on year in January, according to IATA. The association says total capacity, measured in available seat-kilometres, was up 14.1% while load factors increased by 1.7 percentage points to 79.9%. Meanwhile international demand grew by 20.8% and capacity was up 20.9%. Domestic demand grew by 10.4% year on year, led by strong Chinese bookings around Lunar New Year. Capacity was up 4.6% and load factor increased 4.2 percentage points to 80.2%. For the Asia-Pacific region, traffic grew 45.4% in January while capacity was lifted 48.1%. European carriers' traffic was up 10.8% while capacity was increased 10.7%. Middle Eastern airlines posted a 16.2% rise in traffic and capacity rose 15.7%. North and Latin American carriers had a 12.3% and a 17.9% rise in traffic, respectively. Capacity increased 13.7% for North American carriers and 13.2% for Latin American airlines. African airlines saw a 18.5% traffic increase while capacity was up 19.2%. Load factors were highest in Latin America and Asia Pacific at 86% and 82.6%, respectively, while it was the lowest for African airlines at 73.3%. For European carriers, the load factor edged up 0.1 percentage points to 77.3%. It climbed 0.4 percentage points to 79.9% for the Middle East, while fell 1.0 percentage point to 79.4% for North American carriers.