Southeast Asia aviation market data

Southeast Asia aviation market at a glance

The top stats from the Southeast Asian aviation market are:

• Busiest airport: Singapore Changi (SIN)
• Biggest airline: AirAsia
• Country with the most airline capacity: Indonesia
• Top destination region: Asia Pacific

Airline capacity in Southeast Asia

How much airline capacity is there in Southeast Asia this month?

• Overall capacity in  SE Asia market  reduced by 3.1% compared to May  25 to 48.1 million seats.  Jet fuel costs have risen sharply due to geopolitical tensions also leading to Thailand and China, primary suppliers to the region, suspending jet fuel exports. 
  
• Domestic capacity decreased by 4.9%, whilst International capacity decreased by 1.6%.
• International  capacity represents a 55% share of the market, and domestic capacity represent the remaining 45% .

*As of July 2025, international capacity is reported on a two-way basis (previously one-way departing).

Southeast Asian countries' air capacity

Which country in Southeast Asia has most flight capacity (domestic + international)?

• Indonesia remains the largest SE Asia market with 10m seats, despite a decrease in capacity of 7% (751.800 fewer seats) compared to May 25.
• Thailand is the next largest market in the region, with 6.7m seats, despite a 4.7% reduction in capacity (335,900 fewer seats) vs last year.
• Capacity also reduced in Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia with 522,300, 104,200 and 74,600 fewer seats respectively.
• The Philippines is bucking the trend with 6% growth to 5.7m seats.  This is driven by Cebu Pacific Air, and part this is driven by the geography of the Philippines which makes air travel essential, and domestic tourism demand remains strong.

Which Southeast Asian country has most domestic airline capacity?

• Indonesia is the largest domestic market in SE Asia, with 8.1m seats, despite a decline of 6.2% in capacity (536k fewer seats).
• Domestic capacity only increased in the Philippines by 8.2% (305k additional seats) compared to May 25.
• Domestic capacity in Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia all saw considerable reductions this month compared to last year. 

Top 10 largest airports in Southeast Asia (departing seats)

Which is the busiest airport in Southeast Asia?

• Singapore Changi remains the largest airport in the region, with 3.5m seats.  Capacity is down by 2.9%  compared to last year.  Kuala Lumpur is second largest, with capacity of 3.2m representing an increase of 1.1% vs May 25.
• Within the Top 10 airports in the region, capacity declined at the fastest rates in Ho Cho Minh City (Vietnam), Makassar (Indonesia) and Denpasar-Bali (Indonesia), by 12%, 11% and 10.9% respectively vs May 25.

Top 10 largest airlines in Southeast Asia by seats

• AirAsia continues to be the region's largest carrier with 2.66m seats this month, despite a 8.1% decrease in capacity vs May 25. 
  
• A close second busiest airline, Cebu Pacific Air increased capacity at the fastest rates of 16.2% vs last year to 2.64m seats.
• Within the top 10, Vietjet, Lion Air and Thai Air Asia have reduced capacity at the fastest rate of 38.5%, 24.2% and 21.4% vs May 25 (975k, 676k and 399k fewer seats respectively).  Even before the fuel crisis, these LCCs were already fragile with aircraft shortages, maintenance issues and  operating on margins too thin to absorb any shock.
• The region has scheduled traffic operated by 182 airlines at 284 airports.

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