Low-cost flights continue to soar – OAG
Europe now accounts for a quarter of all low-cost flights worldwide after numbers rose by 15% to more than two million in January.
The figures are revealed in the latest OAG Quarterly Airline Traffic Statistics, a regular snapshot of airline activity around the world.
It shows that the world’s airlines scheduled 83,600 flights to and from Europe, 6,000 more than in January last year and more than 25,000 more than in the same month in 2002 when the global aviation industry was still reeling from the aftershocks of 9/11.
This eight per cent increase in air services to and from Europe compares with worldwide January-to-January growth of just four per cent.
The low-cost sector saw a sharp 57% rise in the number of flights to and from the region, largely attributed to new services between Europe and North Africa.
Airlines have laid on more than a million seats to and from Europe in January, up seven per cent to more than 19 million. The total number of seats on sale within the region for January was more than 60 million (up six per cent) compared with 45 million five years ago.
The UK market saw a greater year-on-year increase domestically than in its international services, with the number of flights rising four and one per cent respectively.
Flights to and from the US, the world’s most mature aviation market, are five per cent higher at 114,700, while January’s 818,000 US domestic flights constitute a two per cent increase on January 2006.
OAG managing director Duncan Alexander said: “Currently there seems no ceiling to the expansion of the low cost sector.
“Each year you think it is going to slow down yet existing players expand and although some leave the stage there are plenty of new arrivals.”
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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