21 January 2010

Global airline capacity up four percent

CHICAGO - Global airline capacity for December 2009 showed positive growth compared to December 2008, reports OAG in its monthly report on trends in the supply of airline flights and seats.

There were 294.8 million seats available in December, a rise of four percent over December 2008 levels.

Global frequencies were up one percent compared to December 2008, with a total of 2.4 million flights scheduled for December 2009, despite an average North American frequency decline of two percent.

Worldwide, frequencies and capacity in the low cost sector were both up by 10 percent compared to a year ago, accounting for 444,539 flights (18%) and 65.6 million seats (22%).

John Weber, senior vice president OAG Aviation, said, "Global capacity continues to rise, boosted by worldwide increases in both frequency and capacity in the low cost sector, which would tend to show us that travellers are choosing to fly airlines that offer more economical choices.

"This increase in December 2009 capacity recovers the global pull-down of minus 10 million scheduled seats in 2008 and brings us back to the pre-crisis level of December 2007, but the characteristics of many markets have fundamentally changed," Weber added.

Analysis of major routes reveals that frequency and capacity on certain routes reflect positive growth, while others are showing strong decreases.

Leading the growth is traffic between Western Europe and Africa with an increase of 19 percent in the number of flights and an 18 percent increase in seats.

However, between Western Europe and North America there is a nine percent decrease in the number of flights and an eight percent decrease in the number of seats.

A hubs analysis shows that Beijing has seen an impressive 10 percent increase in the number of flights and a nine percent increase in seats, while Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport shows a negative growth of six percent in the number of flights and a four percent reduction in capacity.

A similar trend can be seen for other major European hubs, with flights at Amsterdam Schiphol down seven percent and seats down six percent.

The month-by-month trend since the start of the economic downturn can be seen in chart format at http://www.oagaviation.com/trends-chart-dec09.jpg.

The figures are revealed in the December 2009 edition of OAG FACTS (Frequency & Capacity Trend Statistics).