Kuala Lumpur - Airlines in the Asia-Pacific were warned Thursday to prepare for an "extremely difficult" year ahead for air travel, as figures for last year's air passenger and cargo volume recorded a dip in numbers.

Members of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), which include 17 international carriers, recorded a total of 141.5 million international passengers in 2008, 1.8 per cent lower than the the year before, the association said in a statement.

International air cargo traffic for 2008 fared even worse, at 52,898 freight ton kilometres, a drop of 6.1 per cent from 2007.

"In what proved to be a particularly challenging year, airlines were battered by skyrocketing oil prices followed by rapidly weakening demand as the effects of the global economic downturn ricocheted around the world," said Andrew Herdman, AAPA director general.

Herdman said passenger and cargo traffic fared well for the first half of the year before dipping in the second half.

He warned carriers of increasingly challenging times this year.

"With no sign of any respite amidst the global economic downturn, Asia-Pacific airlines are braced for another extremely difficult year ahead," said Herdman. (dpa)