LION Air, will be the busiest airline in the Southeast Asia region throughout the September 2023 period. Quoting a report from OAG Aviation which was accessed on Friday (9/22), 2023, this Indonesian airline was recorded as having a passenger volume of 2.97 million seats filled. This number has not changed much compared to the acquisition in August 2023 of around 3 million seats.
Following behind is AirAsia with 2.31 million seats filled. Furthermore, Vietnam Airlines was recorded as carrying 2.07 million passengers throughout September 2023. Apart from Lion Air, there are 2 airlines from Indonesia that managed to occupy the top 10 positions as the busiest airlines. In fifth position, Batik Air recorded 1.77 million seats filled.
Then, PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk’s subsidiary, Citilink, is in 10th place with 1.27 million seats filled. Meanwhile, the total aircraft passenger capacity in Southeast Asia as a whole as of September 2023 is 34.9 million seats. This record is 17% lower than the capacity before the pandemic, to be precise in September 2019.
However, this gain was observed to increase by 15% year on year (yoy) compared to September 2022. Of this number, 59% of them were domestic flight passengers. Meanwhile, the remaining 41 percent are international flight passengers.
Indonesia is still the country with the largest aircraft passenger capacity in the Southeast Asia region with a total of 10.46 million seats as of September 2023. This record indicates a recovery rate of 83% compared to the pre-pandemic period in September 2019.
Following behind Indonesia is Thailand with a total capacity of 5.93 million seats, then Vietnam with 5.47 million seats, Malaysia with 4.75 million seats, and the Philippines with 4.2 million seats. [sources/photo special]